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THE     PROPHECIE: 


.% 


'(fdiiM.  sf*^*! 


JEREMIAH. 

Witl^  a  ^Mc^  of  f)h  '^xit  mli  ^mts^ 


BT  THE   RBV. 

C.    J.  ''^ALL,    M.A., 

Chaplain  of  Lincoln  s  Inn; 

CXJNTRIBUTOR   TO   BISHOP   ELLICOTT's   "COMMENTARY,' 
"  THE  speaker's  COMMENTARY,"  ETC 


'-'^Ml^l^^d^ 


NEW  YORK: 
A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    AND    SON 
51  East  loth  Street,  Near  Broadway. 
1893. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 
PRELIMINARY  SKETCH   OF  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH         I 

I. 

THE  CALL  AND  CONSECRATION  ,  •  .  •  •  •      5^ 

II. 

THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW   OF  EGYPT  •  •  »  •      74 

III 
ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH — A  CONTRAST  ,  .  •  •  .114 

IV. 
THE  SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE   OF   GOD    .  .  .  •134 

V. 

POPULAR  AND  TRUE  RELIGION         .  .  •  •  •  .149 

VI. 

THE  IDOLS  OF  THE  HEATHEN  AND  THE  GOD  OF  ISRAEL    .215 

VII. 
THE  BROKEN  COVENANT     ••.*••.  248 


▼i  CONTENTS, 


VIII. 

PAGE 
THE  FALL  OF   PRIDE         ••••••••   280 


IX. 

THE  DROUGHT  AND   ITS  MORAL  IMPLICATIONS         •  •  •  3OO 

X. 

THE  SABBATH — A  WARNING   ••••••.   364 

XL 
THE   DIVINE  POTTER         •  •  • 377 

XII. 

THE   BROKEN   VESSEL — A   SYMBOL  OF  JUDGMENT    .  •  ,   398 

XIII. 
JEREMIAH   UNDER  PERSECUTION       .  .  •  •  •  .  4" 


PRELIMINARY   SKETCH    OF   THE   LIFE   AND 
TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

A  PRIEST  by  birth,  Jeremiah  became  a  prophet 
by  the  special  call  of  God.  His  priestly  origin 
implies  a  good  literary  training,  in  times  when  litera- 
ture was  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  priests.  The 
priesthood,  indeed,  constituted  a  principal  section  of 
the  Israelitish  nobility,  as  appears  both  from  the  his- 
tory of  those  times,  and  from  the  references  in  our 
prophet's  writings,  where  kings  and  princes  and 
priests  are  often  named  together  as  the  aristocracy  of 
the  land  (i.  i8,  ii.  26,  iv.  9);  and  this  fact  would 
ensure  for  the  young  prophet  a  share  in  all  the  best 
learning  of  his  age.  The  name  of  Jeremiah,  like  other 
prophetic  proper  names,  seems  to  have  special  signifi- 
cance in  connexion  with  the  most  illustrious  of  the 
persons  recorded  to  have  borne  it.  It  means  lahvah 
foundethf  and,  as  a  proper  name,  The  Man  that  lahvah 
foundeth ;  a  designation  which  finds  vivid  illustration 
in  the  words  of  Jeremiah's  call :  "  Before  I  moulded 
thee  in  the  belly,  I  knew  thee ;  and  before  thou  camest 
forth  from  the  womb,  I  consecrated  thee :  a  spokesman 
to  the  nations  did  I  make  thee "  (i.  5).  The  not  un- 
commion  name  of  Jeremiah — six  other  persons  of  the 
name  are  numbered  in  the  Old  Testament — must  have 
appeared  to  the  prophet  as  invested  with  new  force  and 

I 


PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 


meaning,  in  the  light  of  this  revelation.  Even  before 
his  birth  he  had  been  ''founded"^  and  predestined 
by  God  for  the  work  of  his  life. 

The  Hilkiah  named  as  his  father  was  not  the  high 
priest  of  that  name,^  so  famous  in  connexion  with  the 
reformation  of  king  Josiah.  Interesting  as  such  a 
relationship  would  be  if  established,  the  following  facts 
seem  decisive  against  it.  The  prophet  himself  has 
omitted  to  mention  it,  and  no  hint  of  it  is  to  be  found 
elsewhere.  The  priestly  family  to  which  Jeremiah 
belonged  was  settled  at  Anathoth  (i.  i,  xi.  21,  xxix. 
27).  But  Anathoth  in  Benjamin  (xxxvii.  12),  the  pre- 
sent Andtd,  between  two  and  three  miles  NNE.  of 
Jerusalem,  belonged  to  the  deposed  line  of  Ithamar 
(i  Chron.  xxiv.  3 ;  comp.  with  i  Kings  ii.  26,  35). 
After  this  it  is  needless  to  insist  that  the  prophet,  and 
presumably  his  father,  resided  at  Anathoth,  whereas 
Jerusalem  was  the  usual  residence  of  the  high  priest. 
Nor  is  the  identification  of  Jeremiah's  family  with  that 
of  the  ruling  high  priest  helped  by  the  observation 
that  the  father  of  the  high  priest  was  named  Shallum 
(i  Chron.  v.  39),  and  that  the  prophet  had  an  uncle  of 
this  name  (Jer.  xxxii.  7).  The  names  Hilkiah'  and 
Shallum  are  too  common  to  justify  any  conclusions 
from  such  data.  If  the  prophet's  father  was  head  of 
one  of  the  twenty-four  classes  or  guilds  of  the  priests, 
that  might  explain  the  influence  which  Jeremiah  could 
exercise  with  some  of  the  grandees  of  the  court.  But 
we  are  not  told  more  than  that  Jeremiah  ben  Hilkiah 
was   a   member  of  the  priestly  community  settled  at 

*  The  same  root  is  used  in  the  Targ.  on  i.  i^  for  setting  or  fixing 
thrones,  cf.  Dan.  vii.  9  :  (1''P'!) 

■  Clem.  Alex.,  Strom.,  I.,  §120. 

•  At  least  seven  times. 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  3 

Anathoth.  It  is,  however,  a  gratuitous  disparagement 
of  one  of  the  greatest  names  in  Israel's  history,  to 
suggest  that,  had  Jeremiah  belonged  to  the  highest 
ranks  of  his  caste,  he  would  not  have  been  equal  to 
the  self-renunciation  involved  in  the  assumption  of  the 
unhonoured  and  thankless  office  of  a  prophet.^  Such  a 
suggestion  is  certainly  not  warranted  by  the  portraiture 
of  the  man  as  delineated  by  himself,  with  all  the  distinc- 
tive marks  of  truth  and  nature.  From  the  moment  that 
he  became  decisively  convinced  of  his  mission,  Jeremiah's 
career  is  marked  by  struggles  'and  vicissitudes  of  the 
most  painful  and  perilous  kind ;  his  perseverance  in  his 
allotted  path  was  met  by  an  ever  increasing  hardness  on 
the  part  of  the  people  ;  opposition  and  ridicule  became 
persecution,  and  the  messenger  of  Divine  truth  per- 
sisted in  proclaiming  his  message  at  the  risk  of  his  own 
life.  That  life  may,  in  fact,  be  called  a  prolonged 
martyrdom  ;  and,  if  we  may  judge  of  the  unknown  by 
the  known,  the  tradition  that  the  prophet  was  stoned  to 
death  by  the  Jewish  refugees  in  Egypt  is  only  too  pro- 
bable an  account  of  its  final  scene.  If  "  the  natural 
shrinking  of  a  somewhat  feminine  character  "  is  trace- 
able in  his  own  report  of  his  conduct  at  particular 
junctures,  does  not  the  fact  shed  an  intenser  glory 
upon  the  man,  who  overcame  this  instinctive  timidity, 
and  persisted,  in  face  of  the  most  appalling  dangers,  in 
the  path  of  duty  ?  Is  not  the  victory  of  a  constitu- 
tionally timid  and  shrinking  character  a  nobler  moral 
triumph  than  that  of  the  man  who  never  knew  fear — 
who  marches  to  the  conflict  with  others,  with  a  light 
heart,  simply  because  it  is  his  nature  to  do  so — because 
he  has  had  no  experience  of  the  agony  of  a  previous 

'  Hitzig. 


PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 


conflict  with  self?  It  is  easy  to  sit  in  one's  library  and 
criticize  the  heroes  of  old ;  but  the  modern  censures  of 
Jeremiah  betray  at  once  a  want  of  historic  imagination, 
and  a  defect  of  sympathy  with  the  sublime  fortitude 
of  one  who  struggled  on  in  a'  battle  which  he  knew  to 
be  lost.  In  a  protracted  contest  such  as  that  which 
Jeremiah  was  called  upon  to  maintain,  what  wonder  if 
courage  sometimes  flags,  and  hopelessness  utters  its 
forsaken  cry  ?  The  moods  of  the  saints  are  not  always 
the  same ;  they  vary,  like  those  of  common  men,  with 
the  stress  of  the  hour.  Even  our  Saviour  could  cry 
from  the  cross,  *'  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  Thou 
forsaken  Me  ? "  It  is  not  by  passing  expressions, 
wrung  from  their  torn  hearts  by  the  agony  of  the  hour, 
that  men  are  to  be  judged.  It  is  the  issue  of  the  crisis 
that  is  all-important ;  not  the  cries  of  pain,  which 
indicate  its  overwhelming  pressure. 

"  It  is  sad,"  says  a  well  known  writer,  with  reference 
to  the  noble  passage,  xxxi.  31-34,  which  he  justly 
characterizes  as  "  one  of  those  which  best  deserve  to 
be  called  the  Gospel  before  Christ,"  "  It  is  sad  that 
Jeremiah  could  not  always  keep  his  spirit  under  the 
calming  influence  of  these  high  thoughts.  No  book 
of  the  Old  Testament,  except  the  book  of  Job  and  the 
Psalms,  contains  so  much  which  is  difficult  to  reconcile 
with  the  character  of  a  self-denying  servant  of  Jehovah. 
Such  expressions  as  those  in  xi.  20,  xv.  15,  and 
especially  xviii.  21-23,  contrast  powerfully  with  Luke 
xxiii.  34,  and  show  that  the  typical  character  of 
Jeremiah  is  not  absolutely  complete."  Probably  not. 
The  writer  in  question  is  honourably  distinguished 
from  a  crowd  of  French  and  German  critics,  whose 
attainments  are  not  superior  to  his  own,  by  his  deep 
sense  of  the  inestimable  value  to  mankind   of  those 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  5 

beliefs  which  animated  the  prophet,  and  by  the  sincerity 
of  his  manifest  endeavours  to  judge  fairly  between 
Jeremiah  and  his  detractors.  He  has  already  remarked 
truly  enough  that  "  the  baptism  of  complicated  suffer- 
ing," which  the  prophet  was  called  upon  to  pass  through 
in  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim,  "  has  made  him,  in  a  very 
high  and  true  sense,  a  type  of  One  greater  than  he." 
It  is  impossible  to  avoid  such  an  impression,  if  we 
study  the  records  of  his  life  with  any  insight  or  sym- 
pathy. And  the  impression  thus  created  is  deepened, 
when  we  turn  to  that  prophetic  page  which  may  be 
called  the  most  appealing  in  the  entire  range  of  the 
Old  Testament.  In  the  53rd  of  Isaiah  the  martyrdom 
of  Jeremiah  becomes  the  living  image  of  that  other 
martyrdom,  which  in  the  fulness  of  time  was  to  redeem 
the  world.  After  this,  to  say  that  *'  the  typical  cha- 
racter of  Jeremiah  is  not  absolutely  complete,"  is  no 
more  than  the  assertion  of  a  truism  ;  for  what  Old 
Testament  character,  what  character  in  the  annals  of 
collective  humanity,  can  be  brought  forward  as  a  per- 
fect type  of  the  Christ,  the  Man  whom,  in  His  sinless- 
ness  and  His  power,  unbiassed  human  reason  and 
conscience  instinctively  suspect  to  have  been  also  God? 
To  deplore  the  fact  that  this  illustrious  prophet  "  could 
not  always  keep  his  spirit  under  the  calming  influence 
of  his  highest  thoughts,"  is  simply  to  deplore  the  in- 
firmity that  besets  all  human  nature,  to  regret  that 
natural  imperfection  which  chngs  to  a  finite  and  fallen 
creature,  even  when  endowed  with  the  most  splendid 
gifts  of  the  spirit.  For  the  rest,  a  certain  degree  of 
exaggeration  is  noticeable  in  founding  upon  three  brief 
passages  of  so  large  a  work  as  the  collected  prophecies 
of  Jeremiah  the  serious  charge  that  "  no  book  of  the 
Old  Testament,  except  the  book  of  Job  and  the  Psalms, 


PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 


contains  so  much  which  is  difficult  to  reconcile  with 
the  character  of  a  self-denying  servant  of  Jehovah." 
The  charge  appears  to  me  both  ill-grounded  and  mis- 
leading.     But  I   reserve  the  further  consideration  of 
these  obnoxious   passages  for  the  time  when  I  come 
to  discuss  their  context,   as  I   wish  now  to  complete 
my   sketch   of    the   prophet's   life.       He   has   himself 
recorded  the  date  of  his  call  to  the  prophetic  office. 
It  was  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  the  good  king  Josiah, 
that  the   young  ^   priest    was    summoned   to  a   higher 
vocation  by  an  inward  Voice  whose  urgency  he  could 
not  resist.^     The   year  has   been  variously  identified 
with  629,   627,    and   626   B.C.      The   place  has  been 
supposed  to  have  been  Jerusalem,  the  capital,  which 
was  so  near  the  prophet's  home,  and  which,  as  Hitzig 
observes,    offered  the   amplest  scope   and   numberless 
occasions  for  the  exercise  of  prophetic  activity.     But 
there  appears  no   good  reason  why  Jeremiah  should 
not  have  become  known  locally  as  one  whom  God  had 
specially  chosen,  before  he  abandoned  his  native  place 
for  the  wider  sphere  of  the  capital.     This,  in  truth, 
seems  to  be  the  Hkelier  supposition,  considering  that 
his   reluctance  to  take   the  first  decisive  step  in    his 
career  excused  itself  on   the   ground  of  youthful  in- 
experience :  *'  Alas,  my  Lord  lahvah  !  behold,  I  know 
not  (how)   to  speak ;  for   I   am  but  a  youth."  ^     The 
Hebrew  term  may  imply  that  he  was  about  eighteen 
or  twenty  :  an   age  when  it  is  hardly   probable    that 
he  would  permanently  leave  his  father's  house.     More- 

»  i.6. 

*  i.  2,  XXV.  3. 

3  "li;j  pner;  (i)  Ex.  ii.  6,  of  a  three  months'  babe;  (2)  of  a  young 
man  up  to  about  the  twentieth  year,  Gen.  xxxiv.  19,  of  Shechem  ben 
Hamor;  I  Kings  iii.  7,  of  Solomon,  as  here. 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMTAH. 


over,  he  has  mentioned  a  conspiracy  of  his  fellow- 
townsmen  against  himself,  in  terms  which  have  been 
taken  to  imply  that  he  had  exercised  his  ministry 
among  them,  before  his  removal  to  Jerusalem.  In 
chap.  xi.  21,  we  read:  "Therefore  thus  said  lahvah 
Sabaoth  upon  the  men  of  'Anathoth  that  were  seeking 
thy  Hfe,  saying,  Prophesy  not  in  the  name  of  lahvah, 
that  thou  die  not  by  our  hand  !  Therefore  thus  said 
lahvah  Sabaoth  :  Behold  I  am  about  to  visit  it  upon 
them  :  the  young  men  shall  die  by  the  sword  ;  their 
sons  and  their  daughters  shall  die  by  the  famine.  And 
a  remnant  they  shall  have  none  ;  for  I  will  bring  evil 
unto  the  men  of 'Anathoth,  (in)  the  year  of  their  visita- 
tion." It  is  natural  to  see  in  this  wicked  plot  against 
his  life  the  reason  for  the  prophet's  departure  from 
his  native  place  (but  cf.  p.  265).  We  are  reminded  of 
the  violence  done  to  our  Lord  by  the  men  of  "  His  own 
country"  (r)  Trar/ot?  avTov),  and  of  His  final  and,  as 
it  would  seem,  compulsory  departure  from  Nazareth 
to  Capernaum  (St.  Luke  iv.  16-29;  St.  Matt.  iv.  13). 
In  this,  as  in  other  respects,  Jeremiah  was  a  true  type 
of  the  Messias. 

The  prophetic  discourses,  with  which  the  book  of 
Jeremiah  opens  (ii.  i-iv.  2),  have  a  general  applica- 
tion to  all  Israel,  as  is  evident  not  only  from  the  ideas 
expressed  in  them,  but  also  from  the  explicit  address, 
ii.  4 :  "  Hear  ye  the  word  of  lahvah,  O  house  of 
Jacob,  and  all  the  clans  of  the  house  of  Israel!"  It 
is  clear  enough,  that  although  Jeremiah  belongs  to 
the  southern  kingdom,  his  reflexions  here  concern  the 
northern  tribes  as  well,  who  must  be  included  in 
the  comprehensive  phrases  "  house  of  Jacob,"  and  '^all 
the  clans  of  the  house  of  Israel."  The  fact  is  accounted 
for  by  the  circumstance  that  these  two  discourses  are 


PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 


summaries  of  the  prophet's  teaching  on  many  distinct 
occasions,  and  as  such  might  have  been  composed 
anywhere.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  the 
principal  contents  of  his  book  have  their  scene  in 
Jerusalem.  In  chap.  ii.  I,  2,  indeed,  we  have  what 
looks  Hke  the  prophet's  introduction  to  the  scene  of 
his  future  activity.  "  And  there  fell  a  word  of  lahvah 
unto  me,  saying.  Go  and  cry  in  the  ears  of  Jerusalem." 
But  the  words  are  not  found  in  the  LXX.,  which  begins 
chap.  ii.  thus  :  ^'  And  he  said.  These  things  saith  the 
Lord,  I  remembered  the  lovingkindness  (eXeo?)  of 
thy  youth,  and  the  love  of  thine  espousals  (reXeicoo-*?)." 
But  whether  these  words  of  the  received  Hebrew  text 
be  genuine  or  not,  it  is  plain  that  if,  as  the  terms  of 
the  prophet's  commission  affirm,  he  was  to  be  "an 
embattled  city,  and  a  pillar  of  iron,  and  walls  of 
bronze  ...  to  the  kings  of  Judah,  to  her  princes,  to 
her  priests,"  as  well  as  ^' to  the  country  folk"  (i.  1 8), 
Jerusalem,  the  residence  of  kings  and  princes  and 
chief  priests,  and  the  centre  of  the  land,  would  be  the 
natural  sphere  of  his  operations.  The  same  thing  is 
implied  in  the  Divine  statement :  '*  A  naht  to  the  nations 
have  I  made  thee  "  (i.  5).  The  prophet  of  Judea  could 
only  reach  the  goytm — the  surrounding  foreign  peoples 
— through  the  government  of  his  own  country,  and 
through  his  influence  upon  Judean  policy.  The  leaving 
of  his  native  place,  sooner  or  later,  seems  to  be  involved 
in  the  words  (i.  7,  8)  :  '*  And  J^hvah  said  unto  me,  Say 
not,  I  am  a  youth  :  for  upon  whatsoever  (journey)  I 
send  thee,  thou  shalt  go  (Gen.  xxiv.  42) ;  and  with 
whomsoever  I  charge  thee,  thou  shalt  speak  (Gen.  xxiii. 
8).  Be  not  afraid  of  them  !  "  The  Hebrew  is  to  some 
extent  ambiguous.  We  might  also  render :  '*  Unto 
whomsoever  I    send   thee,  thou    shalt  go ;  and  what^ 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  9 

soever  I  charge  thee,  thou  shalt  speak."  But  the 
difference  will  not  affect  my  point,  which  is  that  the 
words  seem  to  imply  the  contingency  of  Jeremiah's 
leaving  Anathoth.  And  this  implication  is  certainly 
strengthened  by  the  twice-given  warning:  ''Be  not 
afraid  of  them!"  (i.  8),  "Be  not  dismayed  at  them, 
lest  I  dismay  thee  (indeed)  before  them  !"  (17).  The 
young  prophet  might  dread  the  effect  of  an  unpopular 
message  upon  his  brethren  and  his  father's  house. 
But  his  fear  would  reach  a  far  higher  pitch  of  intensity, 
if  he  were  called  upon  to  confront  with  the  same 
message  of  unwelcome  truth  the  king  in  his  palace, 
or  the  high  priest  in  the  courts  of  the  sanctuary, 
or  the  fanatical  and  easily  excited  populace  of  the 
capital.  Accordingly,  when  after  his  general  prologue 
or  exordium,  the  prophet  plunges  at  once  "into  the 
agitated  life  of  the  present,"^  it  is  to  "the  men  of 
Judah  and  Jerusalem"  (iv.  3),  to  *' the  great  men" 
(v.  5),  and  to  the  throng  of  worshippers  in  the  temple 
(vii.  2),  that  he  addresses  his  burning  words.  When, 
however  (v.  4),  he  exclaims  :  "  And  for  me,  I  said. 
They  are  but  poor  folk ;  they  do  foolishly  (Num.  xii. 
1 1),  for  they  know  not  the  way  of  lahvah,  the  rule  (i.e.^ 
religion)  of  their  God  (Isa.  xlii.  i)  :  I  will  get  me  unto 
the  great  men,  and  will  speak  with  them ;  for  they 
know  the  way  of  lahvah,  the  rule  of  their  God  : " 
he  again  seems  to  suggest  a  prior  ministry,  of  how- 
ever brief  duration,  upon  the  smaller  stage  of  Anathoth. 
At  all  events,  there  is  nothing  against  the  conjecture 
that  the  prophet  may  have  passed  to  and  fro  between 
his  birthplace  and  Jerusalem,  making  occasional  sojourn 
in  the  capital,  until   at   last  the  machinations  of  his 

*  Hitzig,  Vorbemerkungen. 


lO  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

neighbours  (xi.  19  sqq),  and  as  appears  from  xii.  6,  his 
own  kinsmen,  drove  him  to  quit  Anathoth  for  ever.  If 
Hitzig  be  right  in  referring  Psalms  xxiii.,  xxvi.-xxviii. 
to  the  prophet's  pen,  we  may  find  in  them  evidence 
of  the  fact  that  the  temple  became  his  favourite  haunt, 
and  indeed  his  usual  abode.  As  a  priest  by  birth,  he 
would  have  a  claim  to  live  in  some  one  of  the  cells 
that  surrounded  the  temple  on  three  sides  of  it.  The 
23rd  Psalm,  though  written  at  a  later  period  in  the 
prophet's  career— I  shall  refer  to  it  again  by-and-by — 
closes  with  the  words,  "  And  I  will  return  unto  (Ps. 
vii.  17;  Hos.  xii.  7)  the  house  of  lahvah  as  long  as 
I  live,"  or  perhaps,  "  And  I  will  return  (and  dwell)  in  " 
etc.,  as  though  the  temple  were  at  once  his  sanctuary 
and  his  home.  In  Hke  manner,  Ps.  xxvi.  speaks  of 
one  who  ^'  washed  his  hands,  in  innocency "  {i.e.  in  a 
state  of  innocency ;  the  symbolical  action  corresponding 
to  the  real  state  of  his  heart  and  conscience),  and  so 
"compassed  the  altar  of  lahvah";  "to  proclaim  with 
the  sound  of  a  psalm  of  thanksgiving,  and  to  rehearse 
all  His  wondrous  works."  The  language  here  seems 
even  to  imply  (Ex.  xxx.  19-21),  that  the  prophet  took 
part,  as  a  priest,  in  the  ritual  of  the  altar.  He  con- 
tinues :  "  lahvah,  I  love  the  abode  of  thine  house. 
And  the  place  of  the  dwelling  of  Thy  glory  ! "  and 
concludes,  "  My  foot,  it  standeth  on  a  plain ;  In  the 
congregations  I  bless  lahvah,"  speaking  as  one  con- 
tinually present  at  the  temple  services.  His  prayers 
"  Judge  me,"  i.e,y  Do  me  justice,  "  lahvah  ! "  and 
"  Take  not  away  my  soul  among  sinners.  Nor  my 
life  among  men  of  bloodshed  ! "  may  point  either  to 
the  conspiracies  of  the  Anathcthites,  or  to  subsequent 
persecutions  at  Jerusalem.  The  former  seem  to  be 
intended  both  here,  and  in  Ps.  xxvii.,  which  is  certainly 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  ii 

most  appropriate  as  an  Ode  of  Thanksgiving  for  the 
prophet's  escape  from  the  murderous  attempts  of  the 
men  of  Anathoth.  Nothing  could  be  more  apposite 
than  the  allusions  to  "  evil-doers  drawing  near  against 
him  to  eat  up  his  flesh  "  {i.e.^  according  to  the  common 
Aramaic  metaphor,  to  slander  him,  and  destroy  him 
with  false  accusations) ;  to  the  "  lying  witnesses,  and 
the  man  (or  men)  breathing  out  (or  panting  after) 
violence"  (ver.  12);  and  to  having  been  forsaken  even 
by  his  father  and  mother  (ver.  lo).  With  the  former, 
we  may  compare  the  prophet's  words,  chap.  ix.  2  sqq.y 
"  O  that  I  were  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  lodge  of  way- 
faring men  ;  that  I  might  forsake  my  people,  and  depart 
from  among  them  !  For  all  of  them  are  adulterous, 
an  assembly  of  traitors.  And  they  have  bent  their 
tongue,  (as  it  were)  their  bow  for  lying ;  and  it  is  not 
by  sincerity  that  they  have  grown  strong  in  the  land. 
Beware  ye,  every  one  of  his  friend,  and  have  no 
confidence  in  any  brother :  for  every  brother  will 
assuredly  supplant "  (^i\»^''  nipi;  a  reference  to  Jacob  and 
Esau),  *'  and  every  friend  will  gad  about  for  slander. 
And  each  will  deceive  his  friend,  and  the  truth  they  will 
not  speak  :  they  have  taught  their  tongue  to  speak  Hes  ; 
with  perverseness  they  have  wearied  themselves.  Thy 
dwelling  is  in  the  midst  of  deceit.  ...  A  murderous 
arrow  is  their  tongue ;  deceit  hath  it  spoken ;  with 
his  mouth  one  speaketh  peace  with  his  neighbour,  and 
inwardly  he  layeth  an  ambush  for  him."  Such  lan- 
guage, whether  in  the  psalm  or  in  the  prophetic  oration, 
could  only  be  the  fruit  of  bitter  personal  experience. 
(Cf.  also  xi.  19  sqq.^  xx.  2  sqq.,  xxvi.  8,  xxxvi.  26, 
xxxvii.  15,  xxxviii.  6).  The  allusion  of  the  psalmist 
to  being  forsaken  by  father  and  mother  (Ps.  xxvii.  10) 
may  be  illustrated  by  the  prophet's  words,  chap.  xii.  6. 


12  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

Jeremiah  came  prominently  forward  at  a  serious 
crisis  in  the  history  of  his  people.  The  Scythian  in- 
vasion of  Asia,  described  by  Herodotus  (i.  103- io6), 
but  not  mentioned  in  the  biblical  histories  of  the  time, 
was  threatening  Palestine  and  Judea.  According  to  the 
old  Greek  writer,  Cyaxares  the  Mede,  while  engaged  in 
besieging  Nineveh,  was  attacked  by  a  great  horde  of 
Scythians,  under  their  king  Madyes,  who  had  entered 
Asia  in  pushing  their  pursuit  of  the  Cimmerians,  whom 
they  had  expelled  from  Europe.^  The  Medes  lost  the 
battle,  and  the  barbarous  victors  found  themselves 
masters  of  Asia.  Thereupon  they  marched  for  Egypt, 
and  had  made  their  way  past  Ascalon,  when  they  were 
met  by  the  envoys  of  Psammitichus  I.  the  king  of  Egypt, 
whose  "gifts  and  prayers,"  induced  them  to  return. 
On  the  way  back,  some  few  of  them  lagged  behind 
the  main  body,  and  plundered  the  famous  temple  of 
Atergatis-Derceto,  or  as  Herodotus  calls  the  great  Syrian 
goddess,  Ourania  Afrodite,  at  Ascalon  (the  goddess 
avenged  herself  by  smiting  them  and  their  descendants 
with  impotence — Q)]\eiav  vovcrov,  cf.  I  Sam.  v.  6  sqq.). 
For  eight  and  twenty  years  the  Scythians  remained  the 
tyrants  of  Asia,  and  by  their  exactions  and  plundering 
raids  brought  ruin  everywhere,  until  at  last  Cyaxares 
and  his  Medes,  by  help  of  treachery,  recovered  their 
former  sway.  After  this,  the  Medes  took  Nineveh,  and 
reduced  the  Assyrians  to  complete  subjection;  but 
Babylonia  remained  independent.  Such  is  the  story 
as  related  by  Herodotus,  our  sole  authority  in  the 
matter.      It  has  been  supposed^  that  the  59th  Psalm 


*  The  Cimmerians  are  the  Gomer  of  Scripture,  the  Gimirraa  of  the 
cuneiform  inscriptions. 

*  Ewald,  Die  Psalmen,  165, 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  13 

was  written  by  king  Josiah,  while  the  Scythians  were 
threatening  Jerusalem.  Their  wild  hordes,  ravenous 
for  plunder,  like  the  Gauls  who  at  a  later  time  struck 
Rome  with  panic,  are  at  any  rate  well  described  in  the 
verse 

"  They  return  at  eventide, 
They  howl  like  the  dogs, 

the  famished  pariah  dogs  of  an  eastern  town^ 

And  surround  the  city.** 

But  the  Old  Testament  furnishes  other  indications  of 
the  terror  which  preceded  the  Scythian  invasion,  and  of 
the  merciless  havoc  which  accompanied  it.  The  short 
prophecy  of  Zephaniah,  who  prophesied  "in  the  days 
of  Josiah  ben  Amon  king  of  Judah,"  and  was  therefore 
a  contemporary  of  Jeremiah,  is  best  explained  by 
reference  to  this  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  Western  Asia. 
Zephaniah's  very  first  word  is  a  startling  menace.  *'  I 
will  utterly  away  with  everything  from  off  the  face  of 
the  ground,  saith  lahvah."  "I  will  away  with  man 
and  beast,  I  will  away  with  the  birds  of  the  air,  and 
the  fishes  of  the  sea,  and  the  stumblingblocks  along 
with  the  wicked  {i.e.  the  idols  with  their  worshippers) ; 
and  I  will  exterminate  man  from  off  the  face  of  the 
ground,  saith  lahvah."  The  imminence  of  a  sweeping 
destruction  is  announced.  Ruin  is  to  overtake  every 
existing  thing ;  not  only  the  besotted  people  and  their 
dumb  idols,  but  beasts  and  birds  and  even  the  fish  of 
the  sea  are  to  perish  in  the  universal  catastrophe.  It 
is  exactly  what  might  be  expected  from  the  sudden 
appearance  of  a  horde  of  barbarians  of  unknown 
numbers,  sweeping  over  a  civilised  country  from  north 
to  south,  hke  some  devastating  flood ;  slaying  whatever 


14  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

crossed  their  path,  burning  towns  and  temples,  and 
devouring  the  flocks  and  herds.  The  reference  to 
the  fishes  of  the  sea  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the 
Scythians  marched  southward  by  the  road  which  ran 
along  the  coast  through  Philistia.  '*  Gaza,"  cries  the 
prophet,  *' shall  be  forsaken," — there  is  an  inimitable 
paronomasia  in  his  words  ^ — *'And  Ascalon  a  desolation  : 
as  for  Ashdod,  at  noonday  they  shall  drive  her  into 
exile;  and  Ekron  shall  be  rooted  up.  Alas  for  the 
dwellers  by  the  shore  line,  the  race  of  the  Cherethites ! 
The  word  of  lahvah  is  against  you,  O  Canaan,  land  of 
the  Philistines !  And  I  will  destroy  thee,  that  there 
shall  be  no  inhabitant."  It  is  true  that  Herodotus 
relates  that  the  Scythians,  in  their  retreat,  for  the  most 
part  marched  past  Ascalon  without  doing  any  harm, 
and  that  the  plunder  of  the  temple  was  the  work  of  a 
few  stragglers.  But  neither  is  this  very  probable  in 
itself,  nor  does  it  harmonize  with  what  he  tells  us  after- 
wards about  the  plunder  and  rapine  that  marked  the 
period  of  Scythian  domination.  We  need  not  suppose 
that  the  information  of  the  old  historian  as  to  the  doings 
of  these  barbarians  was  as  exact  as  that  of  a  modern 
state  paper.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  would  it  be  very 
judicious  to  press  every  detail  in  a  highly  wrought 
prophetic  discourse,  which  vividly  sets  forth  the  fears  of 
the  time,  and  gives  imaginative  form  to  the  feelings 
and  anticipations  of  the  hour ;  as  if  it  were  intended  by 
the  writer,  not  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  good  of  his 
contemporaries,  but  to  furnish  posterity  with  a  min  utely 
accurate  record  of  the  actual  course  of  events  in  the 
distant  past. 


»  Zeph.  ii.  4  sqq.,  n^Hfi  nnitr  ntr nprn  jnpr 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  15 

The  public  danger,  which  stimulated  the  reflexion 
and  lent  force  to  the  invective  of  the  lesser  prophet, 
intensified  the  impression  produced  by  the  earlier 
preaching  of  Jeremiah.  The  tide  of  invasion,  indeed, 
rolled  past  Judea,  without  working  much  permanent 
harm  to  the  little  kingdom,  with  whose  destinies  were 
involved  the  highest  interests  of  mankind  at  large. 
But  this  respite  from  destruction  would  be  understood 
by  the  prophet's  hearers  as  proof  of  the  relentings  of 
lahvah  towards  His  penitent  people  ;  and  may,  for  the 
time  at  least,  have  confirmed  the  impression  wrought 
upon  the  popular  mind  by  Jeremiah's  passionate  cen- 
sures and  entreaties.  The  time  was  otherwise  favour- 
able ;  for  the  year  of  his  call  was  the  year  immediately 
subsequent  to  that  in  which  the  young  king  Josiah 
"  began  to  purify  Judah  and  Jerusalem  from  the  high 
places  and  the  Asherim,  and  the  carven  images  and  the 
molten  images,"  which  he  did  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his 
reign,  i,e,  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  the  Chronicler  (2  Chron.  xxxiv.  3), 
which  there  is  no  good  reason  for  disallowing.  Jere- 
miah was  probably  about  the  same  age  as  the  king, 
as  he  calls  himself  a  mere  youth  (na'ar).  After  the 
Scythians  had  retired — if  we  are  right  in  fixing  their 
invasion  so  early  in  the  reign — the  official  reformation 
of  public  worship  was  taken  up  again,  and  completed  by 
the  eighteenth  year  of  Josiah,  when  the  prophet  might 
be  about  twenty-five.  The  finding  of  what  is  called 
"  the  book  of  the  Law,"  and  "  the  book  of  the  Covenant," 
by  Hilkiah  the  high  priest,  while  the  temple  was  being 
restored  by  the  king's  order,  is  represented  by  the 
histories  as  having  determined  the  further  course  of  the 

»  niinn  lao,  2  Kings  xxu.  8;  nnan  isd,  2  Kings  xxui.  2. 


i6  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

royal  reforms.  What  this  book  of  the  Law  was,  it  is 
not  necessary  now  to  discuss.  It  is  clear  from  the 
language  of  the  book  of  Kings,  and  from  the  references 
of  Jeremiah,  that  the  substance  of  it,  at  any  rate,  closely 
corresponded  with  portions  of  Deuteronomy.  It  appears 
from  his  own  words  (chap.  xi.  i-8)  that  at  first,  at  all 
events,  Jeremiah  was  an  earnest  preacher  of  the  positive 
precepts  of  this  book  of  the  Covenant.  It  is  true  that 
his  name  does  not  occur  in  the  narrative  of  Josiah's 
reformation,  as  related  in  Kings.  There  the  king  and 
his  counsellors  inquire  of  lahvah  through  the  prophetess 
Huldah  (2  Kings  xxii.  14).  Supposing  the  account  to 
be  both  complete  and  correct,  this  only  shows  that  five 
years  after  his  call,  Jeremiah  was  still  unknown  or  little 
considered  at  court.  But  he  was  doubtless  included 
among  the  '^  prophets,"  who,  with  ^'  the  king  and  all  the 
men  of  Judah  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,"  "  and 
the  priests  .  .  .  and  all  the  people,  both  small  and  great," 
after  the  words  of  the  newfound  book  of  the  Covenant 
had  been  read  in  their  ears,  bound  themselves  by  a 
solemn  league  and  covenant,  ^'to  walk  after  lahweh, 
and  to  keep  His  commandments,  and  His  laws,  and  His 
statutes,  with  all  the  heart,  and  with  all  the  soul" 
(2  Kings  xxiii.  3).  It  is  evident  that  at  first  the  young 
prophet  hoped  great  things  of  this  national  league  and 
the  associated  reforms  in  the  public  worship.  In  his 
eleventh  chapter,  he  writes  thus  :  "  The  word  that  fell 
to  Jeremiah  from  lahvah,  saying :  Hear  ye  the  words 
of  this  covenant " — presumably  the  words  of  the  new- 
found book  of  the  Torah — "  And  speak  ye  to  the  men 
of  Judah,  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem.  And 
thou  shalt  say  unto  them  " — the  change  from  the  second 
plural  "  hear  ye,"  "  speak  ye,"  is  noticeable.  In  the  first 
instance,  no  doubt,  the  message  contemplates  the  leaders 


THE  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH,  17 

of  the  reforming  movement  generally;  the  prophet  is 
specially  addressed  in  the  words,  ''And  thou  shalt  say 
unto  them,  Thus  said  lahvah,  the  God  of  Israel,  Cursed 
is  the  man  that  will  not  hear  the  words  of  this  covenant, 
which  I  commanded  your  fathers,  in  the  day  when  I 
brought  them  forth  from  the  land  of  Egypt,  from  the 
iron  furnace,  saying,  Hearken  to  My  voice,  and  do  them, 
according  to  all  that  I  command  you ;  and  ye  shall 
become  to  Me  a  people,  and  I — I  will  become  to  you 
Elohim  :  in  order  to  make  good  the  oath  that  I  sware  to 
your  fathers,  to  give  them  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and 
honey,  as  at  this  day. 

"  And  I  answered  and  said.  So  be  it,  lahvah  I 
"And  lahvah  said  unto  me,  Proclaim  all  these  words 
in  the  cities  of  Judah  and  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem, 
saying.  Hear  ye  the  words  of  this  covenant,  and  do 
them.  For  I  solemnly  adjured  your  fathers,  at  the 
time  when  I  brought  them  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
(and)  unto  this  day,  with  all  earnestness  [earnestly  and 
incessantly],  saying.  Hearken  ye  to  My  voice.  And 
they  hearkened  not,  nor  inclined  their  ear,  and  they 
walked  individually  in  the  stubbornness  of  their  evil 
heart.  So  I  brought  upon  them  all  the  words  of  this 
covenant" — i.e.,  the  curses,  which  constituted  the 
sanction  of  it :  see  Deut.  iv.  25  sqq.,  xxviii.  15  sqq. — 
"  (this  covenant)  VN^hich  I  commanded  them  to  do,  and 
they  did  it  not."  [Or  perhaps,  '*  Because  I  bade  them 
dOy  and  they  did  not ;  "  implying  a  general  prescription 
of  conduct,  which  was  not  observed.  Or,  '*  I  who  had 
bidden  them  do,  and  they  did  not" — ^justifying,  as  it 
were,  God's  assumption  of  the  function  of  punishment. 
His  law  had  been  set  at  nought ;  the  national  reverses, 
therefore,  were  His  infliction,  and  not  another's.] 
This,  then,  was  the  first  preaching  of  Jeremiah.    "  Hear 

2 


i8  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

ye  the  words  of  this  covenant !  " — the  covenant  drawn 
out  with  such  precision  and  legal  formaUty  in  the  new- 
found book  of  the  Torah.  Up  and  down  the  country,  "  in 
the  cities  of  Judah  "  and  *'  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem/' 
everywhere  within  the  bounds  of  the  little  kingdom 
that  acknowledged  the  house  of  David,  he  published 
this  panacea  for  the  actual  and  imminent  evils  of  the 
time,  insisting,  we  may  be  sure,  with  all  the  eloquence 
of  a  youthful  patriot,  upon  the  impressive  warnings 
embodied  in  the  past  history  of  Israel,  as  set  forth  in 
the  book  of  the  Law.  But  his  best  efforts  were  fruit- 
less. Eloquence  and  patriotism  and  enlightened 
spiritual  beliefs  and  lofty  purity  of  purpose  were 
wasted  upon  a  generation  blinded  by  its  own  vices 
and  reserved  for  a  swiftly  approaching  retribution. 
Perhaps  the  plots  which  drove  the  prophet  finally  from 
his  native  place  were  due  to  the  hostility  evoked  against 
him  by  his  preaching  of  the  Law.  At  all  events,  the 
account  of  them  immediately  follows,  in  this  eleventh 
chapter  (vers.  1 8  sqq^.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  Law-book  was  not  found  until  five  years  after 
his  call  to  the  office  of  prophet.  In  any  case,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  understand  the  popular  irritation  at  what 
must  have  seemed  the  unreasonable  attitude  of  a 
prophet,  who,  in  spite  of  the  wholesale  destruction  of 
the  outward  symbols  of  idolatry  effected  by  the  king's 
orders,  still  declared  that  the  claims  of  lahweh  were 
unsatisfied,  and  that  something  more  was  needed  than 
the  purging  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem  from  the  high 
places  and  the  Asherim,  if  the  Divine  favour  were  to 
be  conciliated,  and  the  country  restored  to  permanent 
prosperity.  The  people  probably  supposed  that  they 
had  sufficiently  fulfilled  the  law  of  their  God,  when  they 
had  not  only  demolished  all  sanctuaries  but  His,  but  had 


THE   LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  19 

done  away  with  all  those  local  holy  places  where 
lahvah  was  indeed  worshipped,  but  with  a  deplorable 
admixture  of  heathenish  rites.  The  law  of  the  one 
legal  sanctuary,  so  much  insisted  upon  in  Deuteronomy, 
was  formally  established  by  Josiah,  and  the  national 
worship  was  henceforth  centralized  in  Jerusalem,  which 
from  this  time  onward  remained  in  the  eyes  of  all 
faithful  Israelites  ^'the  place  where  men  ought  to 
worship."  It  is  entirely  in  accordance  with  what  we 
know  of  human  nature  in  general,  and  not  merely  of 
Jewish  nature,  that  the  popular  mind  failed  to  rise  to 
the  level  of  the  prophetic  teaching,  and  that  the  reform- 
ing zeal  of  the  time  should  have  exhausted  itself  in 
efforts  which  effected  no  more  than  these  external 
changes.  The  truth  is  that  the  reforming  movement 
began  from  above,  not  from  below ;  and  however  earn- 
est the  young  king  may  have  been,  it  is  probable  that 
the  mass  of  his  subjects  viewed  the  abolition  of  the 
high-places,  and  the  other  sweeping  measures,  initiated 
in  obedience  to  the  precepts  of  the  book  of  the  Covenant, 
either  with  apathy  and  indifference,  or  with  feehrpfs  of 
sullen  hostility.  The  priesthood  of  Jerusalem  were,  of 
course,  benefited  by  the  abolition  of  all  sanctuaries, 
except  the  one  wherein  they  ministered  and  received 
their  dues.  The  writings  of  our  prophet  amply  demon- 
strate that,  whatever  zeal  for  lahvah,  and  whatever 
degree  of  compunction  for  the  past  may  have  animated 
the  prime  movers  in  the  reformation  of  the  eighteenth 
of  Josiah,  no  radical  improvement  was  effected  in  the 
ordinary  fife  of  the  nation.  For  some  twelve  years, 
indeed,  the  well-meaning  king  continued  to  occupy  the 
throne;  years,  it  may  be  presumed,  of  comparative 
peace  and  prosperity  for  Judah,  although  neither  the 
narrative  of  Kings  and  Chronicles  nor  that  of  Jeremiah 


20  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

gives  us  any  information  about  them.  Doubtless  it 
was  generally  supposed  that  the  nation  was  reaping  the 
reward  of  its  obedience  to  the  law  of  lahvah.  But  at 
the  end  of  that  period,  circ.  B.C.  6o8,  an  event  occurred 
which  must  have  shaken  this  faith  to  its  foundations. 
In  the  thirty-first  year  of  his  reign,  Josiah  fell  in  the  battle 
of  Megiddo,  while  vainly  opposing  the  small  forces  at  his 
command  to  the  hosts  of  Egypt.  Great  indeed  must 
have  been  the  ^'  searchings  of  heart "  occasioned  by 
this  unlooked-for  and  overwhelming  stroke.  Strange 
that  it  should  have  fallen  at  a  time  when,  as  the  people 
deemed,  the  God  of  Israel  was  receiving  His  due  at 
their  hands ;  when  the  injunctions  of  the  book  of  the 
Covenant  had  been  minutely  carried  out,  the  false  and 
irregular  worships  abolished,  and  Jerusalem  made  the 
centre  of  the  cultus ;  a  time  when  it  seemed  as  if  the 
Lord  had  become  reconciled  to  His  people  Israel,  when 
years  of  peace  and  plenty  seemed  to  give  demonstration 
of  the  fact ;  and  when,  as  may  perhaps  be  inferred  from 
Josiah's  expedition  against  Necho,  the  extension  of  the 
border,  contemplated  in  the  book  of  the  Law,  was  con- 
sidered as  likely  to  be  reahsed  in  the  near  future.  The 
height  to  which  the  national  aspirations  had  soared 
only  made  the  fall  more  disastrous,  complete,  ruinous. 

The  hopes  of  Judah  rested  upon  a  worldly  founda- 
tion ;  and  it  was  necessary  that  a  people  whose 
blindness  was  only  intensified  by  prosperity,  should 
be  undeceived  by  the  discipline  of  overthrow.  No  hint 
is  given  in  the  meagre  narrative  of  the  reign  as  to 
whether  the  prophets  had  lent  their  countenance  or  not 
to  the  fatal  expedition.  Probably  they  did ;  probably 
they  too  had  to  learn  by  bitter  experience,  that  no  man, 
not  even  a  zealous  and  godfearing  monarch,  is  necessary 
to  the  fulfilment   of   the   Divine    counsels.     And   the 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  21 

agony  of  this  irretrievable  disaster,  this  sudden  and 
complete  extinction  of  his  country's  fairest  hopes,  may 
have  been  the  means  by  which  the  Holy  Spirit  led 
Jeremiah  to  an  intenser  conviction  that  illicit  modes  of 
vi^orship  and  coarse  idolatries  were  not  the  only  things 
in  Judah  offensive  to  lahvah  ;  that  something  more 
was  needed  to  win  back  His  favour  than  formal  obe- 
dience, however  rigid  and  exacting,  to  the  letter  of  a 
written  code  of  sacred  law ;  that  the  covenant  of 
lahvah  with  His  people  had  an  inward  and  eternal,  not 
an  outward  and  transitory  significance ;  and  that  not 
the  letter  but  the  spirit  of  the  law  was  the  thing  of 
essential  moment.  Thoughts  like  these  must  have 
been  present  to  the  prophet's  mind  when  he  wrote 
(xxxi.  31  sqq.) :  ''Behold,  a  time  is  coming,  saith 
lahvah,  when  I  will  conclude  with  the  house  of 
Israel  and  with  the  house  of  Judah  a  fresh  treaty, 
unlike  the  treaty  that  I  concluded  with  their  fore- 
fathers, at  the  time  when  I  took  hold  of  their  hand,  to 
bring  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  when  they,  on 
their  part,  disannulled  my  treaty,  and  I — I  disdained  ^ 
them,  saith  lahvah.  For  this  is  the  treaty  that  I  will 
conclude  with  the  house  of  Israel  after  those  days  \j.e. 
in  due  time],  saith  lahvah  :  I  will  put  my  Torah  within 
them  and  upon  their  heart  will  I  grave  it ;  and  I  will 
become  to  them  a  God,  and  they — they  shall  become 
to  me  a  people." 

It  is  but  a  dull  eye  which  cannot  see  beyond  the 
metaphor  of  the  covenant  or  treaty  between  lahvah 
and  Israel;  and  it  is  a  strangely  dark  understanding 

*  Comparing  the  Hebrew  verb  with  the  Arabic    Jjo     c    l->    ttmutt, 

fastidivit.     LXX.,  /cd7w  rjixiXriaa  airuv.      Cf.  Jer.  iii.   14.      Gesenius 
rendered  fastidivit,  rejecit. 


22  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

that  fails  to  perceive  here  and  elsewhere  a  translucent 
figure  of  the  eternal  relations  subsisting  between  God 
and  man.  The  error  is  precisely  that  against  which 
the  prophets,  at  the  high  watermark  of  their  inspiration, 
are  always  protesting — the  universal  and  inveterate 
error  of  narrowing  down  the  requirements  of  the 
Infinitely  Holy,  Just  and  Good,  to  the  scrupulous  ob- 
(servance  of  some  accepted  body  of  canons,  enshrined 
I  in  a  book  and  duly  interpreted  by  the  laborious 
application  of  recognised  legal  authorities.  It  is  so 
/  comfortable  to  be  sure  of  possessing  an  infallible  guide 
in  so  small  a  compass;  to  be  spared  all  further  con- 
sideration, so  long  as  we  have  paid  the  priestly  dues, 
and  kept  the  annual  feasts,  and  carefully  observed 
the  laws  of  ceremonial  purity !  From  the  first,  the 
attention  of  priests  and  people,  including  the  official 
prophets,  would  be  attracted  by  the  ritual  and  cere- 
monial precepts,  rather  than  by  the  earnest  moral 
teaching  of  Deuteronomy.  As  soon  as  first  impressions 
had  had  time  to  subside,  the  moral  and  spiritual 
element  in  that  noble  book  would  begin  to  be  ignored, 
or  confounded  with  the  purely  external  and  mundane 
prescriptions  affecting  public  worship  and  social  pro- 
priety ;  and  the  interests  of  true  religion  would  hardly 
be  subserved  by  the  formal  acceptance  of  this  code  as 
the  law  of  the  state.  The  unregenerate  heart  of  man 
would  fancy  that  it  had  at  last  gotten  that  for  which 
it  is  always  craving — something  final — something  to 
which  it  could  triumphantly  point,  when  urged  by  the 
religious  enthusiast,  as  tangible  evidence  that  it  was 
fulfilling  the  Divine  law,  that  it  was  at  one  with 
lahvah,  and  therefore  had  a  right  to  expect  the  con- 
tinuance of  His  favour  and  blessing.  Spiritual  de- 
velopment   would    be   arrested ;    men   would    become 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH,  23 

satisfied  with  having  elTected  certain  definite  changes 
bringing  them  into  external  conformity  with  the  written 
law,  and  would  incline  to  rest  in  things  as  they  were. 
Meanwhile,  the  truth  held  good  that  to  make  a  fetish 
of  a  code,  a  system,  a  holy  book,  is  not  necessarily 
identical  with  the  service  of  God.  It  is,  in  fact,  the 
surest  way  to  forget  God ;  for  it  is  to  invest  something 
that  is  not  He,  but,  at  best,  a  far-off  echo  of  His  voice, 
with  His  sole  attributes  of  finality  and  sufficiency. 

The  effect  of  the  downfall  of  the  good  king  was 
electrical.  The  nation  discovered  that  the  displeasure 
of  lahvah  had  not  passed  away  like  a  morning  cloud. 
Out  of  the  shock  and  the  dismay  of  that  terrible  dis- 
illusion sprang  the  conviction  that  the  past  was  not 
atoned  for,  that  the  evil  of  it  was  irreparable.  The 
idea  is  reflected  in  the  words  of  Jeremiah  (xv.  l):  ''And 
lahvah  said  unto  me.  If  Moses  were  to  stand  before 
Me  (as  an  intercessor),  and  Samuel,  I  should  not 
incline  towards  this  people  :  dismiss  them  from  My 
presence,  and  let  them  go  forth  !  And  when  they  say 
unto  thee,  Whither  are  we  to  go  forth  ?  thou  shalt  say 
unto  them,  Thus  said  lahvah.  They  that  are  Death's  to 
death  ;  and  they  that  are  the  Sword's  to  the  sword  ; 
and  they  that  are  Famine's  to  famine;  and  they  that 
are  Captivity's  to  captivity.  And  I  will  set  over  them 
four  families,  saith  lahvah  ;  the  sword  to  slay,  and  the 
dogs  to  draw  (2  Sam.  xvii.  13),  and  the  birds  of  the 
air,  and  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  to  devour  and  to 
destroy.  And  I  will  give  them  for  worry  (Deut- 
xxviii.  25)  to  all  the  realms  of  earth;  because  of 
(Deut.  XV.  10,  xviii.  12;  7P:i2)  Manasseh  ben  Hezekiah 
king  of  Judah,  for  what  he  did  in  Jerusalem^  In  the 
next  verses  we  have  what  seems  to  be  a  reference  to 
the  death  of  Josiah  (ver.  7).     "  I  fanned  them  with  a 


24  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

fan" — the  fan  by  which  the  husbandman  separates 
wheat  from  chaff  in  the  threshingfloor — "I  fanned 
them  with  a  fan,  in  the  gates  of  the  land  " — at  Megiddo, 
the  point  where  an  enemy  marching  along  the  maritime 
route  might  enter  the  land  of  Israel ;  '*  I  bereaved,  I 
ruined  my  people  (ver.  9).  She  that  had  borne  seven, 
pined  away ;  she  breathed  out  her  soul ;  her  sun  went 
down  while  it  was  yet  day."  The  national  mourning 
over  this  dire  event  became  proverbial,  as  we  see  from 
Zech.  xii.  1 1  :  "In  that  day,  great  shall  be  the  mourning 
in  Jerusalem  ;  hke  the  mourning  of  Hadadrimmon  in 
the  valley  of  Megiddo." 

The  political  relations  of  the  period  are  certainly 
obscure,  if  we  confine  our  attention  to  the  biblical 
data.  Happily,  we  are  now  able  to  supplement  these, 
by  comparison  with  the  newly  recovered  monuments 
of  Assyria.  Under  Manasseh,  the  kingdom  of  Judah 
became  tributary  to  Esarhaddon ;  and  this  relation  of 
dependence,  we  may  be  sure,  was  not  interrupted 
during  the  vigorous  reign  of  the  mighty  Ashurbanipal, 
B.C.  668-626.  But  the  first  symptoms  of  declining 
power  on  the  side  of  their  oppressors  would  un- 
doubtedly be  the  signal  for  conspiracy  and  rebelHon  in 
the  distant  parts  of  the  loosely  amalgamated  empire. 
Until  the  death  of  Ashurbanipal,  the  last  great  sovereign 
who  reigned  at  Nineveh,  it  may  be  assumed  that  Josiah 
stood  true  to  his  fealty.  It  appears  from  certain  notices 
in  Kings  and  Chronicles  (2  Kings  xxiii.  19;  2  Chron. 
xxxiv.  6)  that  he  was  able  to  exercise  authority  even 
in  the  territories  of  the  ruined  kingdom  of  Israel.  This 
may  have  been  due  to  the  fact  that  he  was  allowed  to 
do  pretty  much  as  he  liked,  so  long  as  he  proved  an 
obedient  vassal;  or,  as  is  more  likely,  the  attention 
of    the   Assyrians   was   diverted    from   the   West   by 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  25 

troubles  nearer  home  in  connection  with  the  Scythians 
or  the  Medes  and  Babylonians.  At  all  events,  it  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  when  Josiah  went  out  to 
oppose  the  Pharaoh  at  Megiddo,  he  was  facing  the 
forces  of  Egypt  alone.  The  thing  is  intrinsically  im- 
probable. The  king  of  Judah  must  have  headed  a 
coalition  of  the  petty  Syrian  states  against  the  common 
enemy.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  Pales- 
tinian principalities  resisted  Necho's  advance,  in  the 
interests  of  their  nominal  suzerain  Assyria.  From  all 
we  can  gather,  that  empire  was  now  tottering  to  its 
irretrievable  fall,  under  the  feeble  successors  of  Ashur- 
banipal.  The  ambition  of  Egypt  was  doubtless  a 
terror  to  the  combined  peoples.  The  further  results 
of  Necho's  campaign  are  unknown.  For  the  moment, 
Judah  experienced  a  change  of  masters;  but  the 
Egyptian  tyranny  was  not  destined  to  last.  Some 
four  years  after  the  battle  of  Megiddo,  Pharaoh  Necho 
made  a  second  expedition  to  the  North,  this  time 
against  the  Babylonians,  who  had  succeeded  to  the 
empire  of  Assyria.  The  Egyptians  were  utterly  de- 
feated in  the  battle  of  Carchemish,  circ.  B.C.  606-5, 
which  left  Nebuchadrezzar  in  virtual  possession  of 
the  countries  west  of  the  Euphrates  (Jer.  xlvi.  2).  It 
was  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  son  of  Josiah,  king 
of  Judah,  when  this  crisis  arose  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Eastern  world.  The  prophet  Jeremiah  did  not  miss 
the  meaning  of  events.  From  the  first  he  recognised 
in  Nebuchadrezzar,  or  Nabucodrossor,  an  instrument 
in  the  Divine  hand  for  the  chastisement  of  the  peoples; 
from  the  first,  he  predicted  a  judgment  of  God,  not 
only  upon  the  Jews,  but  upon  all  nations,  far  and  near. 
The  substance  of  his  oracles  is  preserved  to  us  in 
chapters    xxv.    and    xlvi.-xlix.    of  his    book.       In   the 


26  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

former  passage,  which  is  expressly  dated  from  the 
fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  and  the  first  of  Nebuchad- 
rezzar, the  prophet  gives  a  kind  of  retrospect  of  his 
ministry  of  three-and-twenty  years,  afBrms  that  it  has 
failed  of  its  end,  and  that  Divine  retribution  is  there- 
fore certain.  The  ^^  tribes  of  the  north "  will  come 
and  desolate  the  whole  country  (ver.  9),  and  "  these 
nations  " — the  peoples  of  Palestine — "  shall  serve  the 
king  of  Babel  sevent}'^  years"  (ver.  ii).  The  judg- 
ment on  the  nations  is  depicted  by  an  impressive 
symbolism  (ver.  15).  ''Thus  said  lahvah,  the  God  of 
Israel,  unto  me.  Take  this  cup  of  wine,  the  (Divine) 
wrath,  from  My  hand,  and  cause  all  the  nations,  unto 
whom  I  send  thee,  to  drink  it.  And  let  them  drink, 
and  reel,  and  show  themselves  frenzied,  because  of 
the  sword  that  I  am  sending  amongst  them ! "  The 
strange  metaphor  recalls  our  own  proverb  :  Quern  Deus 
vult  perdere,  prius  dementat,  "  So  I  took  the  cup 
from  the  hand  of  lahvah,  and  made  all  the  nations 
drink,  unto  whom  lahvah  had  sent  me."  Then, 
as  in  some  list  of  the  proscribed,  the  prophet  writes 
down,  one  after  another,  the  names  of  the  doomed 
cities  and  peoples.  The  judgment  was  set  for  that  age, 
and  the  eternal  books  were  opened,  and  the  names 
found  in  them  were  these  (ver.  18):  "Jerusalem,  and 
the  cities  of  Judah,  and  her  kings,  and  her  princes. 
Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt,  and  his  servants,  and  his 
princes,  and  all  his  people.  And  all  the  hired  soldiery, 
and  all  the  kings  of  the  land  of  Uz,  and  all  the  kings 
of  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  and  Ashkelon,  and  Gaza, 
and  Ekron,  and  the  remnant  of  Ashdod.  Edom,  and 
Moab,  and  the  bene  Ammon.  And  all  the  kings  of 
Tyre,  and  all  the  kings  of  Sidon,  and  the  kings  of  the 
island  {Le,  Cyprus)  that  is  beyond  the   sea.      Dedan 


THE  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF  JEREMIAH.  27 

and  Tema  and  Buz  and  all  the  tonsured  folk.  And 
all  the  kings  of  Arabia,  and  all  the  kings  of  the  hired 
soldiery,  that  dwell  in  the  wilderness.  And  all  the 
kings  of  Zimri,  and  all  the  kings  of  Elam,  and  all  the 
kings  of  Media.  And  all  the  kings  of  the  north,  the 
near  and  the  far,  one  with  another ;  and  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth  that  are  upon  the  surface  of 
the  ground." 


When  the  mourning  for  Josiah  was  ended  (2  Chron. 
XXXV.  24  sqq?),  the  people  put  Jehoahaz  on  his  father's 
throne.  But  this  arrangement  was  not  suffered  to  con- 
tinue, for  Necho,  having  defeated  and  slain  Josiah, 
naturally  asserted  his  right  to  dispose  of  the  crown  of 
Judah  as  he  thought  fit.  Accordingly,  he  put  Jehoahaz 
in  bonds  at  Riblah  in  the  land  of  Hamath,  whither  he 
had  probably  summoned  him  to  swear  allegiance  to 
Egypt,  or  whither,  perhaps,  Jehoahaz  had  dared  to  go 
with  an  armed  force  to  resist  the  Egyptian  pretensions, 
which,  however,  is  an  unHkely  supposition,  as  the 
battle  in  which  Josiah  had  fallen  must  have  been  a 
severe  blow  to  the  military  resources  of  Judah.  Necho 
carried  the  unfortunate  but  also  unworthy  king  (2  Kings 
xxiii.  32)  a  prisoner  to  Egypt,  where  he  died  {ibid.  34). 
These  events  are  thus  alluded  to  by  Jeremiah  (xxii. 
10-12)  :  "Weep  ye  not  for  one  dead  {i.e.  Josiah),  nor 
make  your  moan  for  him :  weep  ever  for  him  that  is 
going  away ;  for  he  will  not  come  back  again,  and  see 
his  native  land  !  For  thus  hach  lahvah  said  of  Shallum 
{i.e.  Jehoahaz,  I  Chron.  iii.  15)  ben  Josiah,  king  of 
Judah,  that  reigned  in  the  place  of  Josiah  his  father, 
who  is  gone  forth  out  of  this  place  {i.e.  Jerusalem,  or 
the  palace,  ver.  i).  He  will  not  come  back  thither  again. 


28  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

For  in  the  place  whither  they  have  led  him  into  exile, 
there  he  will  die ;  and  this  land  he  will  not  see  again." 
The  pathos  of  this  lament  for  one  whose  dream  of 
greatness  was  broken  for  ever  within  three  short 
months,  does  not  conceal  the  prophet's  condemnation 
of  Necho's  prisoner.  Jeremiah  does  not  condole  with 
the  captive  king  as  the  victim  of  mere  misfortune.  In 
this,  as  in  all  the  gathering  calamities  of  his  country, 
he  sees  a  retributive  meaning.  The  nine  preceding 
verses  of  the  chapter  demonstrate  the  fact. 

In  the  place  of  Jehoahaz,  Necho  had  set  up  his 
elder  brother  Eliakim,  with  the  title  of  Jehoiakim 
(2  Kings  xxiii.  34).  This  prince  also  is  condemned  in 
the  narrative  of  Kings  (ver.  37),  as  having  done  "  the 
evil  thing  in  the  eyes  of  lahvah,  according  to  all  that 
his  forefathers  had  done ; "  an  estimate  which  is 
thoroughly  confirmed  by  what  Jeremiah  has  added  to 
his  lament  for  the  deposed  king  his  brother.  The 
pride,  the  grasping  covetousness,  the  high-handed 
violence  and  cruelty  of  Jehoiakim,  and  the  doom  that 
will  overtake  him,  in  the  righteousness  of  God,  are 
thus  declared  :  "  Woe  to  him  that  buildeth  his  house 
by  injustice,  and  his  chambers  by  iniquity !  that  layeth 
on  his  neighbour  work  without  v^ages,  and  giveth  him 
not  his  hire !  That  saith,  I  will  build  me  a  lofty  house, 
with  airy  chambers ;  and  he  cutteth  him  out  the 
windows  thereof,  pannelling  it  with  cedar,  and  painting 
it  with  vermilion.  Shalt  thou  reign^  that  thou  art 
hotly  intent  upon  cedar  ?  "  (Or,  according  to  the  LXX. 
Vat,  thou  viest  with  Ahaz — LXX.  Alex.,  with  Ahab ; 
perhaps  a  reference  to  ''the  ivory  house"  mentioned 
in  I  Kings  xxii.  39).  **  Thy  father,  did  he  not  eat  and 
drink  and  do  judgment  and  justice  ?  Then  it  was  well 
with  him.     He  judged  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  and 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  29 

the  needy :  then  it  was  well.  Was  not  this  to  know 
Me  ?  saith  lahvah.  For  thine  eyes  and  thine  heart 
are  set  upon  nought  but  thine  own  lucre  [thy  plunder], 
and  upon  the  blood  of  the  innocent,  to  shed  it,  and 
upon  extortion  and  oppression  to  do  it.  Therefore, 
thus  hath  lahvah  said  of  Jehoiakim  ben  Josiah,  king 
of  Judah :  They  shall  not  lament  for  him  with  Ah, 
my  brother  I  or  Ah,  sister  !  They  shall  not  lament 
for  him  with  Ah,  lord  !  or  Ah,  his  majesty  I  With  the 
burial  of  an  ass  shall  he  be  buried ;  with  dragging  and 
casting  forth  beyond  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  I " 

In  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  this  worthless 
tyrant,  the  prophet  was  impelled  to  address  a  very 
definite  warning  to  the  throng  of  worshippers  in  the 
court  of  the  temple  (xxvi.  4  sqq^.  It  was  to  the  effect 
that  if  they  did  not  amend  their  ways,  their  temple 
should  become  Hke  Shiloh,  and  their  city  a  curse  to  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  There  could  be  no  doubt  of 
the  meaning  of  this  reference  to  the  ruined  sanctuary, 
long  since  forsaken  of  God  (Ps.  Ixxviii.  60).  It  so 
wrought  upon  that  fanatical  audience,  that  priests  and 
prophets  and  people  rose  as  one  man  against  the  daring 
speaker ;  and  Jeremiah  was  barely  rescued  from  imme- 
diate death  by  the  timely  intervention  of  the  princes. 
The  account  closes  with  the  relation  of  the  cruel 
murder  of  another  prophet  of  the  school  of  Jeremiah, 
by  command  of  Jehoiakim  the  king;  and  it  is  very 
evident  from  these  narratives  that,  screened  as  he  was 
by  powerful  friends,  Jeremiah  narrowly  escaped  a 
similar  fate. 

We  have  reached  the  point  in  our  prophet's  career 
when,  taking  a  broad  survey  of  the  entire  world  of  his 
time,  he  forecasts  the  character  of  the  future  that 
awaits  its  various  political  divisions.     He  has  left  the 


30  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

substance  of  his  reflexions  in  the  25th  chapter,  and 
in  those  prophecies  concerning  the  foreign  peoples, 
which  the  Hebrew  text  of  his  works  relegates  to  the 
very  end  of  the  book,  as  chapters  xlvi.-li.,  but  which 
the  Greek  recension  of  the  Septuagint  inserts  imme- 
diately after  chap.  xxv.  13.  In  the  decisive  battle  at 
Carchemish,  which  crippled  the  power  of  Egypt,  the 
only  other  existing  state  which  could  make  any  pre- 
tensions to  the  supremacy  of  Western  Asia,  and 
contend  with  the  trans-Euphratean  empires  for  the 
possession  of  Syria-Palestine,  Jeremiah  had  recognised 
a  signal  indication  of  the  Divine  Will,  which  he  was 
not  slow  to  proclaim  to  all  within  reach  of  his  inspired 
eloquence.  In  common  with  all  the  great  prophets 
who  had  preceded  him,  he  entertained  a  profound  con- 
viction that  the  race  was  not  necessarily  to  the  swift, 
nor  the  battle  to  the  strong ;  that  the  fortune  of  war 
was  not  determined  simply  and  solely  by  chariots  and 
horsemen  and  big  battahons  ;  that  behind  all  material 
forces  lay  the  spiritual,  from  whose  absolute  will  they 
derived  their  being  and  potency,  and  upon  whose 
sovereign  pleasure  depended  the  issues  of  victory  and 
defeat,  of  Hfe  and  death.  As  his  successor,  the  second 
Isaiah,  saw  in  the  polytheist  Cyrus,  king  of  Anzan, 
a  chosen  servant  of  lahvah,  whose  whole  triumphant 
career  was  foreordained  in  the  counsels  of  heaven ;  so 
Jeremiah  saw  in  the  rise  of  the  Babylonian  domination, 
and  the  rapid  development  of  the  new  empire  upon 
the  ruins  of  the  old,  a  manifest  token  of  the  Divine 
purpose,  a  revelation  of  a  Divine  secret.  His  point 
of  view  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  warning  which 
he  was  directed  to  send  a  few  years  later  to  the  kings 
who  were  seeking  to  draw  Judah  into  the  common 
alliance  against  Babylon  (chap,  xxvii.  I  sqq?).     "  In  the 


THE  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF  JEREMIAH.  31 


beginning  of  the  reign  of  Zedekiah  ^  ben  Josiah,  king 
of  Judah,  fell  this  word  to  Jeremiah  from  lahvah. 
Thus  said  lahvah  unto  me,  Make  thee  thongs  and 
poles,  and  put  them  upon  thy  neck;  and  send  them  to 
the  king  of  Edom,  and  to  the  king  of  Moab,  and  to 
the  king  of  the  bene  Ammon,  and  to  the  king  of  Tyre, 
and  to  the  king  of  Zidon,  by  the  hand  of  the  mes- 
sengers that  are  come  to  Jerusalem,  unto  Zedekiah  the 
king  of  Judah.  And  give  them  a  charge  unto  their 
masters,  saying,  Thus  said  lahvah  Sabaoth,  the  God 
of  Israel,  Thus  shall  ye  say  to  your  masters  :  I  it 
was  that  made  the  earth,  mankind,  and  the  cattle  that 
are  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  by  My  great  strength, 
and  by  Mine  outstretched  arm;  and  I  give  it  to 
whom  it  seemeth  good  in  My  sight.  And  now,  I  will 
verily  give  all  these  countries  into  the  hand  of  Nebu- 
chadrezzar king  of  Babel,  My  servant;  and  even  the 
wild  creatures  of  the  field  will  I  give  unto  him  to  serve 
him." 

Nebuchadrezzar  was  invincible,  and  the  Jewish 
prophet  clearly  perceived  the  fact.  But  it  must  not 
be  imagined  that  the  Jewish  people  generally,  or  the 
neighbouring  peoples,  enjoyed  a  similar  degree  of  in- 
sight. Had  that  been  so,  the  battle  of  Jeremiah's  life 
would  never  have  been  fought  out  under  such  cruel, 
such  hopeless  conditions.  The  prophet  saw  the  truth,' 
and  proclaimed  it  without  ceasing  in  reluctant  ears| 
and  was  met  with  derision,  and  incredulity,  and  in- 
trigue, and  slander,  and  pitiless  persecution.  By-and- 
by,  when  his  word  had  come  to  pass,  and  all  the 
principalities  of  Canaan  were  crouching  abjectly  at  the 
feet  of  the  conqueror,   and  Jerusalem  was  a  heap  of 

*  So  rightly  the  Syriac,  for  Jehoiakim, 


32  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  01* 

ruins,  the  scattered  communities  of  banished  Israelites 
could  remember  that  Jeremiah  had  foreseen  and  fore- 
told it  all.  In  the  light  of  accomplished  facts,  the 
significance  of  his  prevision  began  to  be  realised ;  and 
when  the  first  dreary  hours  of  dumb  and  desperate 
suffering  were  over,  the  exiles  gradually  learned  to 
find  consolation  in  the  few  but  precious  promises  that 
had  accompanied  the  menaces  which  were  now  so 
visibly  fulfilled.  While  they  were  yet  in  their  own 
land,  two  things  had  been  predicted  by  this  prophet 
in  the  name  of  their  God.  The  first  was  now  accom- 
plished; no  cavil  could  throw  doubt  upon  actual 
experience.  Was  there  not  here  some  warrant,  at 
least  for  reasonable  men,  some  sufficient  ground  for 
trusting  the  prophet  at  last,  for  believing  in  his  Divine 
mission,  for  striving  to  follow  his  counsels,  and  for 
looking  forward  with  steadfast  hope  out  of  present 
affliction,  to  the  gladness  of  the  future  which  the  same 
seer  had  foretold,  even  with  the  unwonted  precision  of 
naming  a  limit  of  time  ?  So  the  exiles  were  persuaded, 
and  their  belief  was  fully  justified  by  the  event.  Never 
had  they  realised  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  their 
God,  the  universality  of  lahvah  Sabaoth,  the  shadowy 
nature,  the  blank  nothingness  of  all  supposed  rivals 
of  His  dominion,  as  now  they  did,  when  at  length 
years  of  painful  experience  had  brought  home  to  their 
minds  the  truth  that  Nebuchadrezzar  had  demolished 
the  temple  and  laid  Jerusalem  in  the  dust,  not,  as  he 
himself  believed,  by  the  favour  of  Bel-Merodach  and 
Nebo,  but  by  the  sentence  of  the  God  of  Israel ;  and 
that  the  catastrophe,  which  had  swept  them  out  of 
political  existence,  occurred  not  because  lahvah  was 
weaker  than  the  gods  of  Babylon,  but  because  He  was 
irresistibly  strong ;   stronger   than   all   powers   of  all 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  33 


worlds ;  stronger  therefore  than  Israel,  stronger  than 
Babylon ;  stronger  than  the  pride  and  ambition  of 
the  earthly  conqueror,  stronger  than  the  selfwill,  and 
the  stubbornness,  and  the  wayward  rebellion,  and  the 
fanatical  blindness,  and  the  frivolous  unbelief,  of  his 
own  people.  The  conception  is  an  easy  one  for  us, 
who  have  inherited  the  treasures  both  of  Jewish  and 
of  Gentile  thought ;  but  the  long  struggle  of  the 
prophets,  and  the  fierce  antagonism  of  their  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  the  political  extinction  of  the  Davidic 
monarchy,  and  the  agonies  of  the  Babylonian  exile, 
were  necessary  to  the  genesis  and  germination  of  this 
master-conception  in  the  heart  of  Israel,  and  so  of 
humanity. 

To  return  from  this  hasty  glance  at  the  remoter 
consequences  of  the  prophet's  ministry,  it  was  in  the 
fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  and  the  first  of  Nebu- 
chadrezzar (xxv.  i)  that,  in  obedience  to  a  Divine 
intimation,  he  collected  the  various  discourses  which 
he  had  so  far  delivered  in  the  name  of  God.  Some 
doubt  has  been  raised  as  to  the  precise  meaning  of  the 
record  of  this  matter  (xxxvi.).  On  the  one  hand,  it  is 
urged  that  "  An  historically  accurate  reproduction  of 
the  prophecies  would  not  have  suited  Jeremiah's  object, 
which  was  not  historical  but  practical :  he  desired  to 
give  a  salutary  shock  to  the  people,  by  bringing  before 
them  the  fatal  consequences  of  their  evil  deeds  :"  and 
that  ''  the  purport  of  the  roll  (ver.  29)  which  the  king 
burned  was  [only]  that  the  king  of  Babylon  should 
'  come  and  destroy  this  land,'  whereas  it  is  clear  that 
Jeremiah  had  uttered  many  other  important  declarations 
in  the  course  of  his  already  long  ministry."  And  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  suggested  that  the  roll,  of  which  the 
prophet  speaks  in  chap,  xxxvi.,  contained  no  more  than 

3 


34  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

the  prophecy  concerning  the  Bab^-lonian  invasion  and 
its  consequences,  which  is  preserved  in  chap,  xxv.,  and 
dated  from  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim. 

Considering  the  unsatisfactory  state  of  the  text  of 
Jeremiah,  it  is  perhaps  admissible  to  suppose,  for  the 
sake  of  this  hypothesis,  that  the  second  verse  of 
chap.  XXV.,  which  expressly  declares  that  this  prophecy 
was  spoken  by  its  author  ^'  to  all  the  people  of  Judah, 
and  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,"  is  "  a  loose 
inaccurate  statement  due  to  a  later  editor;"  although 
this  inconvenient  statement  is  found  in  the  Greek  of 
the  LXX.  as  well  as  in  the  Massoretic  Hebrew  text. 
But  let  us  examine  the  alleged  objections  in  the  light 
of  the  positive  statements  of  chap,  xxxvi.  It  is  there 
written  thus  :  "  In  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim  ben 
Josiah  king  of  Judah,  this  word  fell  to  Jeremiah  from 
lahvah.  Take  thee  a  book-roll,  and  write  on  it  all 
the  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto  thee,  concerning 
Israel  and  Judah  and  all  the  nations,  from  the  day 
when  I  (first)  spake  unto  thee, — from  the  days  of 
Josiah, — unto  this  day."  This  certainly  seems  plain 
enough.  The  only  possible  question  is  whether  the 
command  was  to  collect  within  the  compass  of  a  single 
volume,  a  sort  of  author's  edition,  an  indefinite  number 
of  discourses  preserved  hitherto  in  separate  MSS.  and 
perhaps  to  a  great  extent  in  the  prophet's  memory ;  or 
whether  we  are  to  understand  by  "all  the  words"  the 
substance  of  the  various  prophecies  to  which  reference 
is  made.  If  the  object  was  merely  to  impress  the 
people  on  a  particular  occasion  by  placing  before  them 
a  sort  of  historical  review  of  the  prophet's  warnings 
in  the  past,  it  is  evident  that  a  formal  edition  of  his 
utterances,  so  far  as  he  was  able  to  prepare  such  a 
work,  would  not  be  the  most  natural  or  ready  method 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  35 


of  attaining  that  purpose.  Such  a  review  for  practical 
purposes  might  well  be  comprised  within  the  limits  of 
a  single  continuous  composition,  such  as  we  find  in 
chap.  XXV.,  which  opens  with  a  brief  retrospect  of  the 
prophet's  ministry  during  twenty-three  years  (vers.  3-7), 
and  then  denounces  the  neglect  with  which  his  warn- 
ings have  been  received,  and  declares  the  approaching 
subjugation  of  all  the  states  of  Phenicia-Palestine  by 
the  king  of  Babylon.  But  the  narrative  itself  gives 
not  a  single  hint  that  such  was  the  sole  object  in  view. 
Much  rather  does  it  appear  from  the  entire  context  that, 
the  crisis  having  at  length  arrived,  which  Jeremiah  had 
so  long  foreseen,  he  was  now  impelled  to  gather  to- 
gether, with  a  view  to  their  preservation,  all  those 
discourses  by  which  he  had  laboured  in  vain  to  over- 
come the  indifference,  the  callousness,  and  the  bitter 
antagonism  of  his  people.  These  utterances  of  the 
past,  collected  and  revised  in  the  light  of  successive 
events,  and  illustrated  by  their  substantial  agreement 
with  what  had  actually  taken  place,  and  especially  by 
the  new  danger  which  seemed  to  threaten  the  whole 
West,  the  rising  power  of  Babylon,  might  certainly  be 
expected  to  produce  a  powerful  impression  by  their 
coincidence  with  the  national  apprehensions  ;  and  the 
prophet  might  even  hope  that  warnings,  hitherto  dis- 
regarded, but  now  visibly  justified  by  events  in  course 
of  development,  would  at  last  bring  "  the  house  of 
Judah"  to  consider  seriously  the  evil  that,  in  God's 
Providence,  was  evidently  impending,  and  "  return 
every  man  from  his  evil  way,"  that  even  so  late  the 
consequences  of  their  guilt  might  be  turned  aside. 
This  doubtless  was  the  immediate  aim,  but  it  does  not 
exclude  others,  such  as  the  vindication  of  the  prophet's 
own    claims,    in   startling    contrast  with  those    of  the 


36  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

false  prophets,  who  had  opposed  him  at  every  step, 
and  misled  his  countrymen  so  grievously  and  fatally. 
Against  these  and  their  delusive  promises,  the  volume 
of  Jeremiah's  past  discourses  would  constitute  an 
effective  protest,  and  a  complete  justification  of  his  own 
endeavours.  We  must  also  remember  that,  if  the 
repentance  and  salvation  of  his  own  contemporaries 
was  naturally  the  first  object  of  the  prophet  in  all  his 
undertakings,  in  the  Divine  counsels  prophecy  has 
more  than  a  temporary  value,  and  that  the  writings  of 
this  very  prophet  were  destined  to  become  instrumental 
in  the  conversion  of  a  succeeding  generation. 

Those  twenty-three  years  of  patient  thought  and 
earnest  labour,  of  high  converse  with  God,  and  of 
agonised  pleading  with  a  reprobate  people,  were  not  to 
be  without  their  fruit,  though  the  prophet  himself  was 
not  to  see  it.  It  is  matter  of  history  that  the  words  of 
Jeremiah  wrought  with  such  pov/er  upon  the  hearts 
of  the-  exiles  in  Babylonia,  as  to  become,  in  the 
hands  of  God,  a  principal  means  in  the  regeneration 
of  Israel,  and  of  that  restoration  which  was  its 
promised  and  its  actual  consequence  ;  and  from  that 
day  to  this,  not  one  of  all  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the 
prophets  has  enjoyed  such  credit  in  the  Jewish  Church 
as  he  who  in  his  Hfetime  had  to  encounter  neglect  and 
ridicule,  hatred  and  persecution,  beyond  what  is  re- 
corded of  any  other. 

"  So  Jeremiah  called  Baruch  ben  Neriah ;  and 
Baruch  wrote,  from  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah,  all  the 
words  of  lahvah,  that  He  had  spoken  unto  him, 
upon  a  book-roll"  (ver.  4).  Nothing  is  said  about 
time ;  and  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  what  the 
scribe  wrote  at  the  prophet's  dictation  was  a  single 
brief  discourse.     The  work  probably  occupied  a  not 


THE  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  37 

inconsiderable  time,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  datum 
of  the  ninth  verse  {yid.  infr.).    Jeremiah  would  know 
that  haste  was   incompatible   with    literary  finish;  he 
would   probably  feel  that  it  was  equally  incompatible 
with  the  proper  execution  of  what  he  had  recognised  as 
a  Divine  command.     The  prophet  hardly  had  all  his 
past  utterances  lying  before  him  in  the  form  of  finished 
compositions.     "  And    Jeremiah    commanded    Baruch, 
saying:  I  am  detained  (or  confined);  I  cannot  enter  the 
house  of  lahvah;  so  enter  ihou,  and  read  in  the  roll, 
that  thou  wrotest  from  my  mouth,  the  words  of  lahvah, 
in  the  ears  of  the  people,  in  the  house  of  lahvah,  upon 
a  day  of  fasting :  and  also  in  the  ears  of  all  Judah  (the 
Jews),  that  come  in  (to  the  temple)  from  their  (several) 
cities,  thou  shalt  read  them.     Perchance  their  suppli- 
cation will    fall    before    lahvah,  and   they  will  return, 
every  one  from  his  evil  way ;  for  great  is  the  anger 
and   the    hot    displeasure    that    lahvah    hath    spoken 
(threatened)  unto  this  people.     And  Baruch  ben  Neriah 
did    according  to  all  that  Jeremiah   the  prophet  com- 
manded him,  reading  in  the  book  the  words  of  lahvah 
in    lahvah's    house."      This    last    sentence    might    be 
regarded  as  a  general  statement,   anticipative   of  the 
detailed  account  that   follows,  as  is  often  the  case  in 
Old  Testament  narratives.     But  I  doubt  the  application 
of  this  well-known  exegetical  device    in    the   present 
instance.     The  verse  is  more  likely  an  interpolation  ; 
unless  we  suppose  that  it  refers  to  divers  readings  of 
which  no  particulars  are  given,  but  which  preceded  the 
memorable  one  described  in  the  following  verses.     The 
injunction,  '^  And  also  in  the  ears  of  all  Judah  that 
come  out  of  their  cities  thou  shalt  read  them  I "  might 
imply  successive  readings,  as  the  people  flocked  into 
Jerusalem  from  time  to  time.     But  the  grand  occasion, 


,8  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

if  not  the  only  one,  was  without  doubt  that  which 
stands  recorded  in  the  text.  "  And  it  came  to  pass  in 
\h^  fifth  year  of  Jehoiakim  ben  Josiah  king  of  Judah, 
in  the  ninth  month,  they  proclaimed  a  fast  before 
lahvah, — all  the  people  in  Jerusalem  and  all  the 
people  that  were  come  out  of  the  cities  of  Judah  into 
Jerusalem.  And  Baruch  read  in  the  book  the  words 
of  Jeremiah,  in  the  house  of  lahvah,  in  the  cell  of 
Gemariah  ben  Shaphan  the  scribe,  in  the  upper  (inner) 
court,  at  the  entry  of  the  new  gate  of  lahvah's  house, 
in  the  ears  of  all  the  people."  The  dates  have  an 
important  bearing  upon  the  points  we  are  considering. 
It  was  in  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim  that  the  prophet 
was  bidden  to  commit  his  oracles  to  writing.  If,  then, 
the  task  was  not  accomplished  before  the  ninth  month 
of  the  fifth  year,  it  is  plain  that  it  involved  a  good  deal 
more  than  penning  such  a  discourse  as  the  twenty- 
fifth  chapter.  This  datum,  in  fact,  strongly  favours 
the  supposition  that  it  was  a  record  of  his  principal 
utterances  hitherto,  that  Jeremiah  thus  undertook  and 
accompHshed.  It  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  assume 
that  on  this  or  any  other  occasion  Baruch  read  the 
entire  contents  of  the  roll  to  his  audience  in  the  temple. 
We  are  told  that  he  "  read  in  the  book  the  words  of 
Jeremiah,"  that  is,  no  doubt,  some  portion  of  the  whole. 
And  so,  in  the  famous  scene  before  the  king,  it  is  not 
said  that  the  entire  work  was  read,  but  the  contrary  is 
expressly  related  (ver.  23)  :  "  And  when  Jehudi  had 
read  three  columns  or  four ^  he  (the  king)  began  to  cut 
it  with  the  scribe's  knife,  and  to  cast  it  into  the  fire." 
Three  or  four  columns  of  an  ordinary  roll  might  have 
contained  the  whole  of  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  ;  and  it 
must  have  been  an  unusually  diminutive  document,  if 
the  first  three  or  four  columns  of  it  contained  no  more 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  39 

than  the  seven  verses  of  chap.  xxv.  (3-6),  which 
declare  the  sin  of  Judah,  and  announce  the  coming 
of  the  king  of  Bab3don.  And,  apart  from  these 
objections,  there  is  no  ground  for  the  presumption  that 
"  the  purport  of  the  roll  which  the  king  burnt  was 
[only]  that  the  king  of  Babylon  should  '  come  and 
destroy  this  land.'"  As  the  learned  critic,  from  whom  I 
have  quoted  these  words,  further  remarks,  with  perfect 
truth,  "Jeremiah  had  uttered  many  other  important 
declarations  in  the  course  of  his  already  long  ministry." 

That,  I  grant,  is  true ;  but  then  there  is  absolutely 
nothing  to  prove  that  this  roll  did  not  contain  them  all. 
Chap,  xxxvi.  29,  cited  by  the  objector,  is  certainly  not 
such  proof.  That  verse  simply  gives  the  angry  exclama- 
tion with  which  the  king  interrupted  the  reading  of  the 
roll,  "Why  hast  thou  written  upon  it.  The  king  of 
Babylon  shall  surely  come  and  destroy  this  land,  and 
cause  to  cease  from  it  man  and  beast  ?  " 

This  may  have  been  no  more  than  Jehoiakim's  very 
natural  inference  from  some  one  of  the  many  allusions 
to  the  enemy  "  from  the  north,"  which  occur  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  book  of  Jeremiah.  At  all  events,  it 
is  evident  that,  whether  the  king  of  Babylon  was 
directly  mentioned  or  not  in  the  portion  of  the  roll 
read  in  his  presence,  the  verse  in  question  assigns,  not 
the  sole  import  of  the  entire  work,  but  only  the  par- 
ticular point  in  it,  which,  at  the  existing  crisis,  especially 
roused  the  indignation  of  Jehoiakim.  The  25th  chapter 
may  of  course  have  been  contained  in  the  roll  read 
before  the  king. 

And  this  may  suffice  to  show  how  precarious  are  the 
assertions  of  the  learned  critic  in  the  Encydop.  Brit^ 
upon  the  subject  of  Jeremiah's  roll.  The  plain  truth 
seems  to  be  that,  perceiving  the  imminence  of  the  peril 


40  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

that  threatened  his  country,  the  prophet  was  impressed 
with  the  conviction  that  now  was  the  time  to  commit 
his  past  utterances  to  writing;  and  that  towards  the 
end  of  the  year,  after  he  had  formed  and  carried  out 
this  project,  he  found  occasion  to  have  his  discourses 
read  in  the  temple,  to  the  crowds  of  rural  folk  who  sought 
refuge  in  Jerusalem,  before  the  advance  of  Nebuchadrez- 
zar. So  Josephus  understood  the  matter  {Ant.^  x.  6,  2). 
On  the  approach  of  the  Babylonians,  Jehoiakim  made 
his  submission;  but  only  to  rebel  again,  after  three 
years  of  tribute  and  vassalage  (2  Kings  xxiv.  i). 
Drought  and  failure  of  the  crops  aggravated  the  political 
troubles  of  the  country ;  evils  in  which  Jeremiah  was 
not  slow  to  discern  the  hand  of  an  offended  and  alienated 
God.  *'  How  long,"  he  asks  (xii.  4),  "  shall  the  country 
mourn,  and  the  herbage  of  the  whole  field  wither? 
From  the  wickedness  of  them  that  dwell  therein  the 
beasts  and  the  birds  perish."  And  in  chap.  xiv.  we  have 
a  highly  poetical  description  of  the  sufferings  of  the  time. 

"Judah  mourneth,  and  her  gates  languish; 
They  sit  in  black  on  the  ground ; 
And  the  outcry  of  Jerusalem  hath  gone  up. 
And  their  nobles,  they  sent  their  menial  folk  for  water; 
They  came  to  the  pits,  they  found  no  water ; 
They  returned  with  their  vessels  empty  ; 
They  were  ashamed  and  confounded  and  covered  their  head. 
On  account  of  ye  ground  that  is  chapt, 
For  rain  hath  not  fallen  in  the  land, 
The  plowmen  are  ashamed — they  cover  their  head# 
Fen-  even  the  hind  in  the  field — 
She  calveth  and  forsaketh  her  young; 
For  there  is  no  grass. 

And  the  wild  asses,  they  stand  on  the  scaurs; 
They  snuff  the  wind  *  like  jackals ; 
Their  eyes  fail,  for  there  is  no  herbage." 

*  i,e.  To  scent  food  afar  oflf,  like  beasts  of   prey.     There  was  no 
occasion  to  alter  A.V 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  41 

And  then,  after  this  graphic  and  almost  dramatic 
portrayal  of  the  sufferings  of  man  and  beast,  in  the 
blinding  glare  of  the  towns,  and  in  the  hot  waterless 
plains,  and  on  the  bare  hills,  under  that  burning  sky, 
whose  cloudless  splendours  seemed  to  mock  their  misery, 
the  prophet  prays  to  the  God  of  Israel. 

*'  If  our  misdeeds  answer  against  us, 
O  lahvah,  work  for  Thy  name  sake  I 
Verily,  our  fallings  away  are  many ;  > 
Towards  thee  we  are  in  fault. 

Hope  of  Israel,  that  savest  him  in  time  of  trouble  1 
Why  shouldst  thou  be  as  a  sojourner  in  the  land, 
And  as  a  traveller,  that  turneth  aside  to  pass  the  n'ijjht? 
Why  shouldst  thou  be  as  a  man  stricken  dumb, 
As  a  champion  that  cannot  save  ? 
Yet  Thou  art  in  our  midst,  O  lahvah, 
And  Thy  name  is  called  over  us ; 
Leave  us  not  1 " 

And  again,  at  the  end  of  the  chapter, 

"  Hast  Thou  wholly  rejected  Judah  ? 
Hath  Thy  soul  loathed  Zion  ? 
Why  hast  Thou  smitten  us. 
That  there  is  no  healing  for  us  ? 
We  looked  for  welfare,  but  bootlessly. 
For  a  time  of  healing,  and  behold  terror ! 
We  know,  lahvah,  our  wickedness,  the  guilt  of  our  fathers: 
Verily,  we  are  in  fault  toward  Thee  1 
Be  not  scornful,  for  Thy  name's  sake  1 
Dishonour  not  Thy  glorious  throne  1  [i.e.  Jerusalem,] 
Remember,  break  not  Thy  covenant  with  us  ! 
Among  the  Vanities  of  the  nations  are  there  indeed  raingivers? 
Or  the  heavens,  can  they  5rield  showers  ? 
Art  not  Thou  He  (that  doeth  this),  lahvah  our  God  ? 
And  we  wait  for  Thee, 
For  'tis  Thou  that  madest  all  this  world." 

In  these  and  the  like  pathetic  outpourings,  which 
meet  us  in. the  later  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,  we 


42  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

may  observe  the  gradual  development  of  the  dialect  of 
stated  prayer ;  the  beginnings  and  the  growth  of  that 
beantiful  and  appropriate  liturgical  language  in  which 
both  the  synagogue  and  the  church  afterwards  found 
so  perfect  an  instrument  for  the  expression  of  all 
the  harmonies  of  worship.  Prayer,  both  public  and 
private,  was  destined  to  assume  an  increasing  import- 
ance, and,  after  the  destruction  of  temple  and  altar, 
and  the  forcible  removal  of  the  people  to  a  heathen 
land,  to  become  the  principal  means  of  communion  with 
God. 

The  evils  of  drought  and  dearth  appear  to  have  been 
accompanied  by  inroads  of  foreign  enemies,  who  took 
advantage  of  the  existing  distress  to  rob  and  plunder  at 
will.  This  serious  aggravation  of  the  national  troubles 
is  recorded  in  chap.  xii.  7-17.  There  it  is  said,  in  the 
name  of  God,  "  I  have  left  My  house,  I  have  cast  off  My 
heritage ;  I  have  given  the  Darling  of  My  soul  into  the 
hands  of  her  enemies."  The  reason  is  Judah's  fierce 
hostility  to  her  Divine  Master :  "  Like  a  lion  in  the 
forest  she  hath  uttered  a  cry  against  Me."  The  result 
of  this  unnatural  rebellion  is  seen  in  the  ravages  of 
lawless  invaders,  probably  nomads  of  the  desert,  always 
watching  their  opportunity,  and  greedy  of  the  wealth, 
while  disdainful  of  the  pursuits  of  their  civilised 
neighbours.  It  is  as  if  all  the  wild  beasts,  that  roam 
at  large  in  the  open  country,  had  concerted  a  united 
attack  upon  the  devoted  land ;  as  if  many  shepherds 
with  their  innumerable  flocks  had  eaten  bare  and 
trodden  down  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  "  Over  all 
the  bald  crags  in  the  wilderness  freebooters  (Obad.  5) 
are  come;  for  a  sword  of  lahweh's  is  devouring: 
from  land's  end  to  land's  end  no  flesh  hath  security" 
(ver.   12).     The  rapacious   and    heathenish   hordes  of 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  43 

the  desert,  mere  human  wolves  intent  on  ravage  and 
slaughter,  are  a  sword  of  the  Lord's,  for  the  chastise- 
ment of  His  people;  just  as  the  king  of  Babylon  is  His 
"  servant  "  for  the  same  purpose. 

Only  ten  verses  of  the  book  of  Kings  are  occupied 
with  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim  (2  Kings  xxiii.  34-  xxiv.  6) ; 
and  when  we  compare  that  flying  sketch  with  the 
allusions  in  Jeremiah,  we  cannot  but  keenly  regret 
the  loss  of  that  *'  Book  of  the  chronicles  of  the  kings  of 
Judah/'  to  which  the  compiler  of  Kings  refers  as  his 
authority.  Had  that  work  survived,  many  things  in  the 
prophets,  which  are  now  obscure  and  baffling,  would 
have  been  clear  and  obvious.  As  it  is,  we  are  often 
obliged  to  be  contented  with  surmises  and  probabilities, 
where  certainty  would  be  right  welcome.  In  the  present 
instance,  the  facts  alluded  to  by  the  prophet  appear  to 
be  included  in  the  statement  that  the  Lord  sent  against 
Jehoiakim  bands  of  Chaldeans,  and  bands  of  Arameans, 
and  bands  of  Moabites,  and  bands  of  ben6  Ammon. 
The  Hebrew  term  implies  marauding  or  predatory 
bands,  rather  than  regular  armies,  and  it  need  not  be 
supposed  that  they  all  fell  upon  the  country  at  th^ 
same  time  or  in  accordance  with  any  preconcerted 
scheme.  In  the  midst  of  these  troubles,  Jehoiakim 
died  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  having  reigned  no  more 
than  eleven  years,  and  being  only  thirty-six  years  old 
(2  Kings  xxiii.  36).  The  prophet  thus  alludes  to  his 
untimely  end.  "  Like  the  partridge  that  sitteth  on  eggs 
that  she  hath  not  laid,  so  is  he  that  maketh  riches,  and 
not  by  right :  in  the  midst  of  his  days  they  leave  him  ; 
and  in  his  last  end  he  proveth  a  fool"  (xvii.  ii).  We 
have  already  considered  the  detailed  condemnation  of 
this  evil  king  in  the  22nd  chapter.  The  prophet 
Habakkuk,   a   contemporary    of   Jeremiah,    seems    to 


44  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

have  had  Jehoiakim  in  his  mind's  eye,  when  denouncing 
(ii.  9)  woe  to  one  that  "  getteth  an  evil  gain  for  his 
house,  that  he  may  set  his  nest  on  high,  that  he  may 
escape  from  the  hand  of  evil ! "  The  allusion  is  to  the 
forced  labour  on  his  new  palace,  and  on  the  defences 
of  Jerusalem,  as  well  as  to  the  fines  and  presents  of 
money,  which  this  oppressive  ruler  shamelessly  ex- 
torted from  his  unhappy  subjects.  "  The  stone  out 
of  the  wall,"  says  the  prophet,  "crieth  out;  and  the 
beam  out  of  the  woodwork  answereth  it." 

The  premature  death  of  the  tyrant  removed  a  serious 
obstacle  from  the  path  of  Jeremiah.  No  longer  forced 
to  exercise  a  wary  vigilance  in  avoiding  the  vengeance 
of  a  king  whose  passions  determined  his  conduct,  the 
prophet  could  now  devote  himself  heart  and  soul  to  the 
work  of  his  office.  The  public  danger,  imminent  from 
the  north,  and  the  way  to  avert  it,  is  the  subject  of  the 
discourses  of  this  period  of  his  ministry.  His  unquench- 
able faith  appears  in  the  beautiful  prayer  appended  to 
his  reflexions  upon  the  death  of  Jehoiakim  (xvii.  12  sqq^. 
We  cannot  mistake  the  tone  of  quiet  exultation,  with 
which  he  expresses  his  sense  of  the  absolute  righteous- 
ness of  the  catastrophe.  '*  A  throne  of  glory,  a  height 
higher  than  the  first  (?),  (or,  higher  than  any  before) 
is  the  place  of  our  sanctuary."  Never  before  in  the 
prophet's  experience  has  the  God  of  Israel  so  clearly 
vindicated  that  justice  which  is  the  inalienable  attribute 
of  His  dread  tribunal. 

For  himself,  the  immediate  result  of  this  renewal 
of  an  activity  that  had  been  more  or  less  suspended, 
was  persecution  and  even  violence.  The  earnestness 
with  which  he  besought  the  people  to  honestly  keep 
the  law  of  the  Sabbath,  an  obligation  which  was  recog- 
nised in  theory  though  disregarded  in  practice ;  and 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  45 

his  striking  illustration  of  the  true  relations  between 
lahvah  and  Israel  as  parallel  to  those  that  hold  between 
the  potter  and  the  clay  (chap.  xvii.  19  sqq,^^  only 
brought  down  upon  him  the  fierce  hostility  and 
organised  opposition  of  the  false  prophets,  and  the 
priests,  and  the  credulous  and  self-willed  populace, 
as  we  read  in  chap,  xviii.  1 8  sqq.  "  And  they  said. 
Come,  and  let  us  contrive  plots  against  Jeremiah.  .  .  . 
Come,  and  let  us  smite  him  with  the  tongue,  and  let 
us  not  listen  to  any  of  his  words.  Should  evil  be 
repaid  for  good,  that  they  have  digged  a  pit  for  my 
life  ? "  And  after  his  solemn  testimony  before  the 
elders  in  the  valley  of  Ben-Hinnom,  and  before  the 
people  generally,  in  the  court  of  the  Lord's  house  (chap, 
xix.),  the  prophet  was  seized  by  order  of  Pashchur, 
the  commandant  of  the  temple,  who  was  himself  a 
leading  false  prophet,  and  cruelly  beaten,  and  set  in 
the  stocks  for  a  day  and  a  night.  That  the  spirit  of 
the  prophet  was  not  broken  by  this  shameful  treatment, 
is  evident  from  the  courage  with  which  he  confronted 
his  oppressor  on  the  morrow,  and  foretold  his  certain 
punishment.  But  the  apparent  failure  of  his  mission, 
the  hopelessness  of  his  life's  labour,  indicated  by  the 
deepening  hostility  of  the  people,  and  the  readiness 
to  proceed  to  extremities  against  him  thus  evinced  by 
their  leaders,  wrung  from  Jeremiah  that  bitter  cry  of 
despair,  which  has  proved  such  a  stumbling-block  to 
some  of  his  modern  apologists. 

Soon  the  prophet's  fears  were  realised,  and  the 
Divine  counsel,  of  which  he  alone  had  been  cognisant, 
was  fulfilled.  Within  three  short  months  of  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  the  boy-king  Jeconiah  ("or  Jehoiachin 
or  Coniah),  with  the  queen-mother,  the  grandees  of  the 
court,  and  the  pick  of  the  population  of  the  capital,  was 


46  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

carried  captive  to  Babylon  by  Nebuchadrezzar  (2  Kings 
xxiv.  8  sqq. ;  Jer.  xxiv.  i). 

Jeremiah  has  appended  his  forecast  of  the  fate  of 
Jeconiah,  and  a  brief  notice  of  its  fulfilment,  to  his 
denunciations  of  that  king's  predecessors  (xxii.  24  sqq?). 
"As  I  live,  saith  lahvah,  verily,  though  Coniah  ben 
Jehoiakim  king  of  Judah  be  a  signet  ring  upon  My 
own  right  hand,  verily  thence  vi^ill  I  pluck  thee  away  I 
And  I  will  give  thee  into  the  hand  of  them  that  seek 
thy  life,  and  into  the  hand  of  those  of  whom  thou  art 
afraid  ;  and  into  the  hand  of  Nebuchadrezzar  king  of 
Babel,  and  into  the  hand  of  the  Chaldeans.  And  I  will 
cast  thee  forth,  and  thy  mother  that  bare  thee,  into  the 
foreign  land,  wherein  ye  were  not  born  ;  and  there 
ye  shall  die.  But  unto  the  land  whither  they  long 
to  return,  thither  shall  they  not  return.  Is  this  man 
Coniah  a  despised  broken  vase,  or  a  vessel  devoid  of 
charm  ?  Why  were  he  and  his  offspring  cast  forth, 
and  hurled  into  the  land  that  they  knew  not  ?  O  land, 
land,  land,  hear  thou  the  word  of  lahvah.  Thus 
hath  lahvah  said,  Write  ye  down  this  man  childless,  a 
person  that  shall  not  prosper  in  his  days :  for  none  of 
his  offspring  shall  prosper,  sitting  on  the  throne  of 
David,  and  ruling  again  in  Judah." 

No  better  success  attended  the  prophet's  ministry 
under  the  new  king  Zedekiah,  whom  Nebuchadrezzar 
had  placed  on  the  throne  as  his  vassal  and  tributary. 
So  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  accounts  left  us, 
Zedekiah  was  a  wellmeaning  but  unstable  character, 
whose  weakness  and  irresolution  were  too  often  played 
upon  by  unscrupulous  and  scheming  courtiers,  to  the 
fatal  miscaniage  of  right  and  justice.  Soon  the  old 
intrigues  began  again,  and  in  the  fourth  year  of  the 
new  reign  (xxviii.  i)  envoys  from  the  neighbour-states 


THE  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  47 


arrived  at  the  Jewish  court;  with  the  object  of  drawing 
Judah  into   a  coahtion  against  the  common   suzerain, 
the  king  of  Babylon.     This  suicidal  poHcy  of  combina- 
tion with   heathenish  and   treacherous  alHes,  most  of 
whom  were  the  heirs  of  immemorial  feuds  with  Judah, 
against  a  sovereign  who  was  at  once  the  most  powerful 
and  the  most  enlightened  of  his  time,  called  forth  the 
prophet's  immediate  and  strenuous  opposition.     Boldly 
affirming  that  lahvah  had  conferred  universal  dominion 
upon    Nebuchadrezzar,     and     that    consequently     all 
resistance   was  futile,  he  warned  Zedekiah  himself  to 
bow^  his  neck  to  the  yoke,  and  dismiss  all  thought  of 
rebellion.     It  would  seem  that  about  this  time  (circ. 
596  B.C.)  the  empire  of  Babylon  was  passing  through 
a  serious  crisis,  which  the  subject  peoples  of  the  West 
hoped  and  expected  would  result  in  its  speedy  dissolu- 
tion.    Nebuchadrezzar  was,  in  fact,  engaged  in  a  hfe- 
and-death  struggle  with  the  Medes ;  and  the  knowledge 
that  the  Great  King  was  thus  fully  occupied  elsewhere, 
encouraged  the  petty  princes  of  Phenicia-Palestine  in 
their  projects  of  revolt.     If  chaps.  1.,  li.,  are  genuine, 
it  was  at  this  juncture  that  Jeremiah  foretold  the  fall 
of  Babylon ;  for,  at  the  close  of  the  prophecy  in  ques- 
tion (11.  59),  it  is  said  that  he  gave  a  copy  of  it  to  one 
of  the  princes  who  accompanied  Zedekiah  to  Babylon 
in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  i.e.   in    596  B.C.     But 
the  style  and  thought  of  these  two  chapters,  and  the 
general  posture  of  things  which  they  presuppose,  are 
decisive  against  the  view  that  they  belong  to  Jeremiah. 
At  all  events  the  prophet  gave  the  clearest  evidence  that 
he  did  not  himself  share  in  the  general  delusion  that  the 
fall  of  Babylon  was  near  at  hand.     He  declared  that 
all  the  nations  must  be  content  to  serve  Nebuchadrezzar, 
and  his   son,  and   his   son's   son   (xxvii.   7);  and  as 


48  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

chap.  xxix.  shows,  he  did  his  best  to  counteract  the 
evil  influence  of  those  fanatical  visionaries,  who  were 
ever  promising  a  speedy  restoration  to  the  exiles  who 
had  been  deported  to  Babylon  with  Jeconiah.  At  last, 
however,  in  spite  of  all  Jeremiah's  warnings  and  en- 
treaties, the  vacillating  king  Zedekiah,  was  persuaded 
to  rebel ;  and  the  natural  consequence  followed — the 
Chaldeans  appeared  before  Jerusalem.  King  and 
people  had  refused  salvation,  and  were  now  no  more 
to  be  saved. 

During  the  siege,  the  prophet  was  more  than  once 
anxiously  consulted  by  the  king  as  to  the  issue  of 
the  crisis.  Although  kept  in  ward  by  Zedekiah's 
orders,  lest  he  should  weaken  the  defence  by  his  dis- 
couraging addresses,  Jeremiah  showed  that  he  was  far 
above  the  feeling  of  private  ill-will,  by  the  answers  he 
returned  to  his  sovereign's  inquiries.  It  is  true  that 
he  did  not  at  all  modify  the  burden  of  his  message ;  to 
the  king  as  to  the  people  he  steadily  counselled  sur- 
render. But  strongly  as  he  denounced  further  resist- 
ance, he  did  not  predict  the  king's  death  ;  and  the  tone 
of  his  prophecy  concerning  Zedekiah  is  in  striking 
contrast  with  that  concerning  his  predecessor  Jehoiakim. 
It  was  in  the  tenth  year  of  Zedekiah  and  the  eighteenth 
of  Nebuchadrezzar,  that  is  to  say,  circ.  589  B.C.,  when 
Jeremiah  was  imprisoned  in  the  court  of  the  royal 
guard,  within  the  precincts  of  the  palace  (xxxii.  I  sqq.)  ; 
when  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  was  being  pressed  on  with 
vigour,  and  when  of  all  the  strong  cities  of  Judah,  only 
two,  Lachish  and  Azekah,  were  still  holding  out  against 
the  Chaldean  blockade ;  that  the  prophet  thus  addressed 
the  king  (xxxiv.  2  sqq.) :  "  Thus  hath  lahvah  said, 
Behold,  I  am  about  to  give  this  city  into  the  hand  of 
the  king  of  Babel,  and  he  shall  burn  it  with  fire.     And 


THE  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF  JEREMIAH.  49 

thou  wilt  not  escape  out  of  his  hand ;  for  thou  wilt 
certainly  be  taken,  and  into  his  hand  thou  wilt  be 
given.  And  thine  eyes  shall  see  the  king  of  Babel's 
eyes,  and  his  mouth  shall  speak  with  thy  mouth,  and 
to  Babel  wilt  thou  come.  But  hear  thou  lahvah's 
word,  O  Zedekiah  king  of  Judah  !  Thus  hath  lahvah 
said  upon  thee,  Thou  wilt  not  die  by  the  sword.  In 
peace  wilt  thou  die ;  and  with  the  burnings  of  thy 
fathers,  the  former  kings  that  were  before  thee,  so  will 
men  burn  (spicery)  for  thee,  and  with  Ah,  Lord  !  will 
they  wail  for  thee  ;  for  a  promise  have  /  given,  saith 
lahvah."  Zedekiah  was  to  be  exempted  from  the 
violent  death,  which  then  seemed  so  probable ;  and 
was  to  enjoy  the  funeral  honours  of  a  king,  unlike  his 
less  worthy  brother  Jehoiakim,  whose  body  was  cast 
out  to  decay  unburied  like  that  of  a  beast.  The  failure 
of  Jeremiah's  earnest  and  consistent  endeavours  to 
bring  about  the  submission  of  his  people  to  what  he 
foresaw  to  be  their  inevitable  destiny,  is  explained  by 
the  popular  confidence  in  the  defences  of  Jerusalem, 
which  were  enormously  strong  for  the  time,  and  were 
considered  impregnable  (xxi.  13);  and  by  the  hopes 
entertained  that  Egypt,  with  whom  negotiations  had 
long  been  in  progress,  would  raise  the  siege  ere  it  was 
too  late.  The  low  state  of  public  morals  is  vividly 
illustrated  by  an  incident  which  the  prophet  has 
recorded  (chap,  xxxiv.  7  sqq?).  In  the  terror  inspired 
by  the  approach  of  the  Chaldeans,  the  panic-stricken 
populace  of  the  capital  bethought  them  of  that  law  of 
their  God,  which  they  had  so  long  set  at  nought ;  and 
the  king  and  his  princes  and  the  entire  people  bound 
themselves  by  a  solemn  covenant  in  the  temple,  to 
release  all  slaves  of  Israelitish  birth,  who  had  served 
six  years  and  upwards,  according   to  the  law.     The 

4 


50  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

enfranchisement  was  accomplished  with  all  the  sanctions 
of  law  and  of  religion  ;  but  no  sooner  had  the  Chaldeans 
retired  from  before  Jerusalem  in  order  to  meet  the 
advancing  army  of  Egypt,  than  the  solemn  covenant 
was  cynically  and  shamelessly  violated,  and  the  un- 
happy freedmen  were  recalled  to  their  bondage.  After 
this,  further  warning  was  evidently  out  of  place;  and 
nothing  was  left  for  Jeremiah  but  to  denounce  the 
outrage  upon  the  majesty  of  heaven,  and  to  declare  the 
speedy  return  of  the  besiegers,  and  the  desolation  of 
Jerusalem.  His  own  liberty  had  not  yet  been  restricted 
(xxxvii.  4)  when  these  events  happened  ;  but  a  pretext 
was  soon  found  for  venting  upon  him  the  malice  of  his 
enemies.  After  assuring  the  king  that  the  respite  was 
not  to  be  permanent,  but  that  Pharaoh's  army  would 
return  to  Egypt  without  accomplishing  any  deliverance, 
and  that  the  Chaldeans  would  "  come  again,  and  fight 
against  the  city,  and  take  it,  and  burn  it  with  fire  " 
(xxxvii.  8),  Jeremiah  availed  himself  of  the  temporary 
absence  of  the  besieging  forces,  to  attempt  to  leave  his 
City  of  Destruction ;  but  he  was  arrested  in  the  gate  by 
which  he  was  going  out,  and  brought  before  the  princes 
on  a  charge  of  attempted  desertion  to  the  enemy. 
Ridiculous  as  was  this  accusation,  when  thus  levelled 
against  one  whose  whole  life  was  conspicuous  for 
sufferings  entailed  by  a  lofty  and  unflinching  patriotism 
and  a  devotion,  at  the  time  almost  unique,  to  the  sacred 
cause  of  religion  and  morality ;  it  was  at  once  received 
and  acted  upon.  Jeremiah  was  beaten  and  thrown 
into  a  dungeon,  where  he  languished  for  a  long  time 
in  subterranean  darkness  and  misery,  until  the  king 
desired  to  consult  him  again.  This  was  the  saving  of 
the  prophet's  life ;  for  after  once  more  declaring  his 
unalterable  message,    I^H^^  ^5?  "njo  T3^   '^nto  the  king 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  51 


of  Babel's  hand  thou  wilt  be  given  I"  he  made  indig- 
nant protest  against    his  cruel  wrongs,   and  obtained 
from  Zedekiah  some  mitigation  of  his   sentence.     He 
was  not  sent   back   to  the  loathsome  den   under  the 
house  of  Jonathan  the  scribe,  in  whose  dark  recesses 
he  had  well  nigh  perished  (xxxvii.  20),  but  was  detained 
in    the   court  of  the  guard,  receiving  a  daily  dole  of 
bread  for  his  maintenance.     Here  he  appears  to  have 
still  used  such  opportunity  as  he  had,  in  dissuading  the 
people   from   continuing   the    defence.     At  all    events, 
four  of  the  princes  induced  the  king  to  deliver  him  into 
their  power,   on  the   ground   that  he   "weakened    the 
hands  of  the  men  of  war,"  and  sought  not  the  welfare 
but  the  hurt  of  the  nation  (xxxviii.  4).     Unwilling  for 
some  reason  or  other,  probably  a  superstitious  one,  to 
imbrue  their  hands  in  the  prophet's  blood,  they  let  him 
down  with  cords  into  a  miry  cistern  (nia)  in  the  court  of 
the  guard,  and  left  him  there  to  die  of  cold  and  hunger. 
Timely  help  sanctioned  by  the  king  rescued  Jeremiah 
from  this  horrible  fate ;  but  not  before  he  had  under- 
gone sufferings  of  the  severest  character,  as  may  easily 
be  understood  from  his  own  simple  narrative,  and  from 
the  indelible  impression  wrought  upon   others  by  the 
record   of  his   sufferings,    which  led  the  poet  of   the 
Lamentations  to  refer   to    this  time   of  deadly -peril, 
and  torture  both  mental  and  physical,  in  the  following 
terms: 

"They  chased  me  sore  like  a  bird, 
They  that  were  my  foes  without  a  causes 
They  silenced  my  life  in  the  pit, 
And  they  cast  a  stone  upon  me. 
Waters  overflowed  mine  head  ; 
Methought,  I  am  cut  off. 
I  called  Thy  name,  lahvah, 
Out  of  the  deepest  pit. 
My  voice  Thou  heard  est  (saying)^ 


52  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 

'Hide  not  Thine  ear  at  my  breathir?,  at  my  cry. 
Thou  drewest  near  when  I  called  Thee ; 
Thou  saidst,  '  Fear  not '  1 

Thou  pleadedst,  O  Lord,  my  souls  pleadings; 
Thou  ransomedst  my  life." 

After  this  signal  escape,  Jeremiah's  counsel  was 
once  more  sought  by  the  king,  in  a  secret  interview, 
which  was  jealously  concealed  from  the  princes.  But 
neither  entreaties,  nor  assurances  of  safety,  could  per- 
suade Zedekiah  to  surrender  the  city.  Nothing  was 
now  left  for  the  prophet,  but  to  await,  in  his  milder 
captivity,  the  long  foreseen  catastrophe.  The  form 
now  taken  by  his  solitary  musings  was  not  anxious 
speculation  upon  the  question  whether  any  possible 
resources  were  as  yet  unexhausted,  whether  by  any 
yet  untried  means  king  and  people  might  be  convinced, 
and  the  end  averted.  Taking  that  end  for  granted, 
he  looks  forth  beyond  his  own  captivity,  beyond  the 
scenes  of  famine  and  pestilence  and  bloodshed  that 
surround  him,  beyond  the  strife  of  factions  within  the 
city,  and  the  lines  of  the  besiegers  without  it,  to  a 
fair  prospect  of  happy  restoration  and  smiling  peace, 
reserved  for  his  ruined  country  in  the  far-off  yet  ever- 
approaching  future  (xxxii.,  xxxiii.). 

Strong  in  this  inspired  confidence,  like  the  Roman 
who  purchased  at  its  full  market  value  the  ground  on 
which  the  army  of  Hannibal  lay  encamped,  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  buy,  with  all  due  formalities  of  transfer,  a 
field  in  his  native  place,  at  this  supreme  moment,  when 
the  whole  country  was  wasted  with  fire  and  sword,  and 
the  artillery  of  the  foe  was  thundering  at  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem.  And  the  event  proved  that  he  was  right. 
He  believed  in  the  depth  of  his  heart  that  God  had  not 
finally  cast  off  His  people.  He  believed  that  nothing, 
not   even   human  error   and  revolt,  could   thwart  and 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  53 

turn  aside  the  Eternal  purposes.  He  was  sure — it  was 
demonstrated  to  him  by  the  experience  of  an  eventful 
life — that,  amid  all  the  vicissitudes  of  men  and  things, 
one  thing  stands  immutable,  and  that  is  the  will  of 
God.  He  was  sure  that  Abraham's  family  had  not 
become  a  nation,  merely  in  order  to  be  blotted  out  of 
existence  by  a  conqueror  who  knew  not  lahvah ;  that 
the  torch  of  a  true  religion,  a  spiritual  faith,  had  not 
been  handed  on  from  prophet  to  prophet,  burning  in  its 
onward  course  with  an  ever  clearer  and  intenser  flame, 
merely  to  be  swallowed  up  before  its  final  glory  was 
attained,  in  utter  and  eternal  darkness.  The  covenant 
with  Israel  would  no  more  be  broken  than  the  covenant 
of  day  and  night  (xxxiii.  20).  The  laws  of  the  natural 
world  are  not  more  stable  and  secure  than  those  of  the 
spiritual  realm ;  for  both  have  their  reason  and  their 
ground  of  prevalence  in  the  Will  of  the  One  Unchange- 
able Lord  of  all.  And  as  the  prophet  had  been  right  in 
his  forecast  of  the  destruction  of  his  country,  so  did  he 
prove  to  have  been  right  in  his  joyful  anticipation  of 
the  future  renascence  of  all  the  best  elements  in  Israel's 
life.  The  coming  time  fulfilled  his  word  ;  a  fact  which 
must  always  remain  unaccountable  to  all  but  those  who 
believe  as  Jeremiah  believed. 

After  the  fall  of  the  city,  special  care  was  taken  to 
ensure  the  safety  of  Jeremiah,  in  accordance  with  the 
express  orders  of  Nebuchadrezzar,  who  had  become 
cognisant  of  the  prophet's  consistent  advocacy  of 
surrender,  probably  from  the  exiles  previously  deported 
to  Babylonia,  with  whom  Jeremiah  had  maintained 
communications,  advising  them  to  settle  down  peace- 
ably, accepting  Babylon  as  their  country  for  the  time 
being,  and  praying  for  its  welfare  and  that  of  its  rulers. 
Nebuzaradan,  the  commander-in-chief,  further  allowed 


54  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 


the  prophet  his  choice  between  following  him  to 
Babylon,  or  remaining  with  the  wreck  of  the  population 
in  the  ruined  country.  Patriotism,  which  in  his  case 
was  identified  with  a  burning  zeal  for  the  moral  and 
spiritual  w^elfare  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  prevailed 
over  regard  for  his  own  worldly  interests  ;  and  Jeremiah 
chose  to  remain  with  the  survivors — disastrously  for 
himself,  as  the  event  proved  (xxxix.  ii,  xl.  i). 

An  old  man,  worn  out  with  strife  and  struggle,  and 
weighed  down  by  disappointment  and  the  sense  of 
failure,  he  might  well  have  decided  to  avail  himself 
of  the  favour  extended  to  him  by  the  conqueror,  and 
to  secure  a  peaceful  end  for  a  life  of  storm  and  conflict. 
But  the  calamities  of  his  country  had  not  quenched  his 
prophetic  ardour ;  the  sacred  fire  still  burnt  within 
his  aged  spirit ;  and  once  more  he  sacrificed  himself 
to  the  work  he  felt  called  upon  to  do,  only  to  experience 
again  the  futility  of  offering  wise  counsel  to  head- 
strong, proud,  and  fanatical  natures.  Against  his 
earnest  protestations,  he  w^as  forced  to  accompany  the 
remnant  of  his  people  in  their  hasty  flight  into  Egypt 
(xlii.)  ;  and,  in  the  last  glimpse  afforded  us,  we  see 
him  there  among  his  fellow-exiles  making  a  final,  and 
alas  !  ineffectual  protest  against  their  stubborn  idolatry 
(xliv.).  A  tradition  mentioned  by  Tertullian  and 
St.  Jerome  which  may  be  of  earlier  and  Jewish  ori- 
gin, states  that  these  apostates  in  their  wicked  rage 
against   the    prophet   stoned  him   to  death   (cf.    Heb. 

xi.  37). 

The  last  chapter  of  his  book  brings  the  course  of 
events  down  to  about  561  B.C.  The  fact  has  naturally 
suggested  a  conjecture  that  the  same  3^ear  witnessed 
the  close  of  the  prophet's  life.  In  that  case,  Jeremiah 
must    have   attained    to   an  age  of  somewhere   about 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  55 

ninety  years  ;  which,  taking  all  the  circumstances  into 
consideration,  is  hardly  credible.  A  celibate  life  is 
said  to  be  unfavourable  to  longevity ;  but  however  that 
may  be,  the  other  conditions  in  this  instance  make  it 
extremely  unhkely.  Jeremiah's  career  was  a  vexed 
and  stormy  one ;  it  was  his  fate  to  be  divided  from  his 
kindred  and  his  fellow-countrymen  by  the  widest  and 
deepest  differences  of  belief;  like  St.  Athanasius,  he 
^  was  called  upon  to  maintain  the  cause  of  truth  against 
an  opposing  world.  "  Woe's  me,  my  mother  !  "  he 
cries,  in  one  of  his  characteristic  fits  of  despondency, 
which  were  the  natural  fruit  of  a  passionate  and  almost 
feminine  nature,  after  a  period  of  noble  effort  ending 
in  the  shame  of  utter  defeat ;  "  Woe's  me,  that  thou 
gavest  me  birth,  a  man  of  strife,  and  a  man  of  contention 
to  all  the  land  I  Neither  lender  nor  borrower  have  I 
been  ;  yet  all  are  cursing  me  "  (xv.  10).  The  persecu- 
tions he  endured,  the  cruelties  of  his  long  imprisonment, 
the  horrors  of  the  protracted  siege,  upon  which  he  has 
not  dwelt  at  length,  but  which  have  stamped  themselves 
.  indelibly  upon  his  language  (xviii.  21,  22,  xx.  16), 
would  certainly  not  tend  to  prolong  his  life.  In  the 
71st  Psalm,  which  seems  to  be  from  his  pen,  and 
which  wants  the  usual  heading  "A  Psalm  of  David," 
he  speaks  of  himself  as  conscious  of  failing  powers, 
and  as  having  already  reached  the  extreme  limit  of 
age.  Writing  after  his  narrow  escape  from  death  in 
the  miry  cistern  of  his  prison,  he  prays 

**  Cast  me  not  off  in  the  time  of  old  age  ; 
Forsake  me  not,  when  my  strength  faileth,** 


And  again. 


'  Yea,  even  when  I  am  old  and  grey-headed, 
O  God  forsake  me  not !  " 


56  PRELIMINARY  SKETCH  OF 


And,  referring  to  his  signal  deliverance, 

"Thou  that  shewedst  me  many  and  sore  troubles, 
Thou  makest  me  live  again ; 
And  out  of  the  deeps  of  the  earth  again  Thou  bringest  me  up." 

The  allusion  in  the  90th  Psalm,  as  well  as  the  case 
of  Barzillai,  who  is  described  as  extremely  old  and 
decrepit  at  fourscore  (2  Sam.  xix.  33),  proves  that  life 
in  ancient  Palestine  did  not  ordinarily  transcend  the 
limits  of  seventy  to  eighty  years.  Still,  after  all  that 
may  be  urged  to  the  contrary,  Jeremiah  may  have  been 
an  exception  to  his  contemporaries  in  this,  as  in  most 
other  respects.  Indeed,  his  protracted  labours  and 
sufferings  seem  almost  to  imply  that  he  was  endowed 
with  constitutional  vigour  and  powers  of  endurance 
above  the  average  of  men ;  and  if,  as  some  suppose,  he 
wrote  the  book  of  Job  in  Egypt,  to  embody  the  fruits 
of  his  life's  experience  and  reflexion,  as  well  as  arranged 
and  edited  his  other  writings,  it  is  evident  that  he 
must  have  sojourned  among  the  exiles  in  that  country 
for  a  considerable  time. 

The  tale  is  told.  In  meagre  and  broken  outline  I 
have  laid  before  you  the  known  facts  of  a  life  which 
must  always  possess  permanent  interest,  not  only  for 
the  student  of  religious  development,  but  for  all  men 
who  are  stirred  by  human  passion,  and  stimulated  by 
human  thought.  And  fully  conscious  as  I  am  of  failure 
in  the  attempt  to  reanimate  the  dry  bones  of  history, 
to  give  form  and  colour  and  movement  to  the  shadows 
of  the  past;  I  shall  not  have  spent  my  pains  for  nought, 
if  I  have  awakened  in  a  single  heart  some  spark  of 
living  interest  in  the  heroes  of  old ;  some  enthusiasm 
for  the  martyrs  of  faith ;  some  secret  yearning  to  cast 
in  their  own  lot  with  those  who  have  fought  the  battle 
of  truth   and    righteousness    and   to   share   with   the 


THE  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF  JEREMIAH.  57 

saints  departed  in  the  victory  that  overcometh  the 
world.  And  even  if  in  this  also  I  have  fallen  short 
of  the  mark,  these  desultory  and  imperfect  sketches  of 
a  good  man's  life  and  work  will  not  have  been  wholly 
barren  of  result,  if  they  lead  any  one  of  my  readers  to 
renewed  study  of  that  truly  sacred  text  which  pre- 
serves to  all  time  the  living  utterances  of  this  last 
of  the  greater  prophets. 


THE  CALL  AND   CONSECRATION, 

IN  the  foregoing  pages  we  have  considered  the 
principal  events  in  the  Hfe  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah, 
by  way  of  introduction  to  the  more  detailed  study 
of  his  writings.  Preparation  of  this  kind  seemed  to  be 
necessary,  if  we  were  to  enter  upon  that  study  with 
something  more  than  the  vaguest  perception  of  the  real 
personality  of  the  prophet.  On  the  other  hand,  I  hope 
we  shall  not  fail  to  find  our  mental  image  of  the  m$n, 
and  our  conception  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  and 
of  the  conditions  under  which  he  laboured  ^s  a  servant 
of  God,  corrected  and  perfected  by  that  closer  exami- 
nation of  his  works  to  which  I  now  invite  you.  Apd 
so  we  shall  be  better  equipped  for, the  attainment  of 
that  which  must  be  the,  ultimate  object  of  all  such 
studies;  the  deepening  and  strengthening  of  the  life 
of  faith  in  ourselves,  by  which  alone  we  can  hope  to 
follow  in  the  steps  of  the  saints  of  old,  and  like  them 
to  realise  the  great  end  of  our  being,  the  service  of 
the  All-Perfect. 

I  shall  consider  the  various  discourses  in  what 
appears  to  be  their  natural  order,  so  far  as  possible, 
taking  those  chapters  together  which  appear  to  be  con- 
nected in  occasion  and  subject.  Chap.  i.  evidently  stands 
apart,  as  a  self-complete  and  independent  whole.     It 


THE   CALL  AND   CONSECRATION.  59 

consists  of  a  chronological  superscription  (vv.  I -3), 
assigning  the  temporal  limits  of  the  prophet's  activity ; 
and  secondly,  of  an  inaugural  discourse,  which  sets 
before  us  his  first  call,  and  the  general  scope  of  the 
mission  which  he  was  chosen  to  fulfil.  This  discourse, 
again,  in  like  manner  falls  into  two  sections,  of  which 
the  former  (vv.  4- 10)  relates  how  the  prophet  was  ap- 
pointed and  qualified  by  lahvah  to  be  a  spokesman  for 
Him;  while  the  latter  (vv.  11-19),  under  the  form  of 
two  visions,  expresses  the  assurance  that  lahvah  will 
accomplish  His  word,  and  pictures  the  mode  of  fulfil- 
ment, closing  with  a  renewed  summons  to  enter  upon 
the  work,  and  with  a  promise  of  effectual  support 
against  all  opposition. 

It  is  plain  that  we  have  before  us  the  author's  intro- 
duction to  the  whole  book ;  and  if  we  would  gain  an 
adequate  conception  of  the  meaning  of  the  prophet's 
activity  both  for  his  own  time  and  for  ours,  we  must 
weigh  well  the  force  of  these  prefatory  words.  The 
career  of  a  true  prophet,  or  spokesman  for  God,  un- 
doubtedly implies  a  special  call  or  vocation  to  the  office. 
In  this  preface  to  the  summarized  account  of  his  life's 
work,  Jeremiah  represents  that  call  as  a  single  and 
definite  event  in  his  life's  history.  Must  we  take  this 
in  its  literal  sense  ?  We  are  not  astonished  by  such 
a  statement  as  ''  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  me  ; " 
it  may  be  understood  in  more  senses  than  one,  and 
perhaps  we  are  unconsciously  prone  to  understand 
it  in  what  is  called  a  natural  sense.  Perhaps  we 
think  of  a  result  of  pious  reflexion  pondering  the  moral 
state  of  the  nation  and  the  needs  of  the  time  :  perhaps 
of  that  inward  voice  which  is  nothing  strange  to  any 
soul  that  has  attained  to  the  rudiments  of  spiritual 
development.     But  when  we  read  such  an  assertion  as 


6o  THE  PROPHECIES   OF  JEREMIAH. 

that  of  ver.  9,  "Then  the  Lord  put  forth  His  hand, 
and  touched,  my  mouth,"  we  cannot  but  pause  and  ask 
what  it  was  that  the  writer  meant  to  convey  by  words 
so  strange  and  startHng.  Thoughtful  readers  cannot 
avoid  the  question  whether  such  statements  are  con- 
sonant with  what  we  otherwise  know  of  the  deaUngs  of 
God  with  man ;  whether  an  outward  and  visible  act  of 
the  kind  spoken  of  conforms  with  that  whole  concep- 
tion of  the  Divine  Being,  which  is,  so  far  as  it  reflects 
reality,  the  outcome  of  His  own  contact  with  our  human 
spirits.  The  obvious  answer  is  that  such  corporeal 
actions  are  incompatible  with  all  our  experience  and  all 
our  reasoned  conceptions  of  the  Divine  Essence,  which 
fills  all  things  and  controls  all  things,  precisely  because 
it  is  not  limited  by  a  bodily  organism,  because  its 
actions  are  not  dependent  upon  such  imperfect  and 
restricted  media  as  hands  and  feet.  If,  then,  we  are 
bound  to  a  literal  sense,  we  can  only  understand  that 
the  prophet  saw  a  vision,  in  which  a  Divine  hand 
seemed  to  touch  his  lips,  and  a  Divine  voice  to  sound 
in  his  ears.  But  are  we  bound  to  a  literal  sense  ?  It 
is  noteworthy  that  Jeremiah  does  not  say  that  lahvah 
Himself  appeared  to  him.  In  this  respect,  he  stands 
in  conspicuous  contrast  with  his  predecessor  Isaiah, 
who  writes  (vi.  i),  "  In  the  year  that  king  Uzziah 
died,  I  saw  the  Lord  sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and 
lifted  up  ;  "  and  with  his  successor  Ezekiel,  who  affirms 
in  his  opening  verse  (i.  l)  that  on  a  certain  definite 
occasion  "the  heavens  opened,"  and  he  saw  "visions 
of  God."  Nor  does  Jeremiah  use  that  striking  phrase 
of  the  younger  prophet's,  "The  hand  of  lahvah  was 
upon  me,"  or  "w^as  strong  upon  me."  But  when  he 
says,  "lahvah  put  forth  His  hand  and  touched  my 
mouth,"  he  is  evidently  thinking  of  the  seraph  that 


THE   CALL  AND  CONSECRATION,  6i 

touched  Isaiah's  month  with  the  live  coal  from  the 
heavenly  altar  (vi.  7).  The  words  are  identical  (i;i>i 
"•Q  *?!;),  and  might  be  regarded  as  a  quotation.  It  is  true 
that,  supposing  Jeremiah  to  be  relating  the  experience 
of  a  trance-like  condition  or  ecstasy,  we  need  not 
assume  any  conscious  imitation  of  his  predecessor. 
The  sights  and  sounds  which  affect  a  man  in  such  a 
condition  may  be  partly  repetitions  of  former  experi- 
ence, whether  one's  own  or  that  of  others;  and  in 
part  wholly  new  and  strange.  In  a  dream  one  might 
imagine  things  happening  to  oneself,  which  one  had 
heard  or  read  of  in  connexion  with  others.  And 
Jeremiah's  writings  generally  prove  his  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  those  of  Isaiah  and  the  older  prophets. 
But  as  a  trance  or  ecstasy  is  itself  an  involuntary  state, 
so  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  subject  of  it  must 
be  independent  of  the  individual  will,  and  as  it  were 
imposed  from  without.  Is  then  the  prophet  describing 
the  experience  of  such  an  abnormal  state — a  state  like 
that  of  St.  Peter  in  his  momentous  vision  on  the  house- 
top at  Joppa,  or  like  that  of  St.  Paul  when  he  was 
"caught  up  to  the  third  heaven,"  and  saw  many 
wonderful  things  which  he  durst  not  reveal  ?  The 
question  has  been  answered  in  the  negative  on  two 
principal  grounds.  It  is  said  that  the  vision  of  vv.  II, 
12,  derives  its  significance  not  from  the  visible  thing 
itself,  but  from  the  name  of  it,  which  is,  of  course,  not 
an  object  of  sight  at  all ;  and  consequently,  the  so- 
called  vision  is  really  "a  well-devised  and  ingenious 
product  of  cool  reflexion."  But  is  this  so  ?  We  may 
translate  the  original  passage  thus  :  And  there  fell  a 
word  of  lahvah  unto  me,  saying,  What  seest  thou, 
Jeremiah  ?  And  I  said,  A  rod  of  a  wake-tree  (i.e.  an 
almond)  is  what  I  see.     And  lahvah  said  unto  me,  Thou 


62  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 


hast  well  seen;  for  wakeful  am  I  over  My  word,  to 
do  it.  Doubtless  there  is  here  one  of  those  plays 
on  words  which  are  so  well  known  a  feature  of  the 
prophetic  style;  but  to  admit  this  is  by  no  means 
tantamount  to  an  admission  that  the  vision  derives  its 
force  and  meaning  from  the  "  invisible  name  "  rather 
than  from  the  visible  thing.  Surely  it  is  plain  that  the 
significance  of  the  vision  depends  on  the  fact  which  the 
name  implies ;  a  fact  which  would  be  at  once  suggested 
by  the  sight  of  the  tree.  It  is  the  well  known  charac- 
teristic of  the  almond  tree  that  it  wakes,  as  it  were, 
from  the  long  sleep  of  winter  before  all  other  trees,  and 
displays  its  beautiful  garland  of  blossom,  while  its  com- 
panions remain  leafless  and  apparently  lifeless.  This 
quality  of  early  wakefulness  is  expressed  by  the  Hebrew 
name  of  the  almond  tree  ;  for  shdqed  means  waking  or 
wakeful.  If  this  tree,  in  virtue  of  its  remarkable  pecu- 
liarity, was  a  proverb  of  watching  and  waking,  the 
sight  of  it,  or  of  a  branch  of  it,  in  a  prophetic  vision 
would  be  sufficient  to  suggest  that  idea,  independently 
of  the  name.  The  allusion  to  the  name,  therefore,  is 
only  a  literary  device  for  expressing  with  inimitable 
force  and  neatness  the  significance  of  the  visible  symbol 
of  the  ^'  rod  of  the  almond  tree,"  as  it  was  intuitively 
apprehended  by  the  prophet  in  his  vision. 

Another  and  more  radical  ground  is  discovered  in 
the  substance  of  the  Divine  communication.  It  is  said 
that  the  anticipatory  statement  of  the  contents  and 
purpose  of  the  subsequent  prophesyings  of  the  seer 
(ver.  lo),  the  announcement  beforehand  of  his  fortunes 
(vv.  8,  1 8,  19),  and  the  warning  addressed  to  the  pro- 
phet personally  (ver.  17),  are  only  conceivable  as  results 
of  a  process  of  abstraction  from  real  experience,  as 
prophecies  conformed  to  the  event  (ex  eventu).     **  The 


THE  CALL  AND   CONSECRATION.  63 

call  of  the  prophet,"  says  the  writer  whose  arguments 
we  are  examining,  ''was  the  moment  when,  battling 
down  the  doubts  and  scruples  of  the  natural  man 
(vv.  7,  8),  and  full  of  holy  courage,  he  took  the  reso- 
lution (ver.  17)  to  proclaim  God's  word.  Certainly  he 
was  animated  by  the  hope  of  Divine  assistance  (ver.  18), 
the  promise  of  which  he  heard  inwardly  in  the  heart. 
More  than  this  cannot  be  affirmed.  But  in  this  chapter 
(vv.  17,  18),  the  measure  and  direction  of  the  Divine 
help  are  already  clear  to  the  writer  ;  he  is  aware  that 
opposition  awaits  him  (ver.  19)  ;  he  knows  the  content 
of  his  prophecies  (ver.  lo).  Such  knowledge  was  only 
possible  for  him  in  the  middle  or  at  the  end  of  his 
career ;  and  therefore  the  composition  of  this  opening 
chapter  must  be  referred  to  such  a  later  period.  As, 
however,  the  final  catastrophe,  after  which  his  language 
would  have  taken  a  wholly  different  complexion,  is 
still  hidden  from  him  here  ;  and  as  the  only  edition  of 
his  prophecies  prepared  by  himself,  that  we  know  of, 
belongs  to  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim  (xxxvi.  45); 
the  section  is  best  referred  to  that  very  time,  when  the 
posture  of  affairs  promised  well  for  the  fulfilment  of 
the  threatenings  of  many  years  (cf.  xxv.  9  with 
vv.  15,  10;  xxv.  13  with  vv.  12-17  \  xxv.  6  with  ver.  16. 
And  ver.  18  is  virtually  repeated,  chap.  xv.  20,  which 
belongs  to  the  same  period)." 

The  first  part  of  this  is  an  obvious  inference  from 
the  narrative  itself.  The  prophet's  own  statement 
makes  it  abundantly  clear  that  his  conviction  of  a  call 
was  accompanied  by  doubts  and  fears,  which  were 
only  silenced  by  that  faith  which  moves  mountains. 
That  lofty  confidence  in  the  purpose  and  strength  of 
the  Unseen,  which  has  enabled  weak  and  trembling 
humanity  to  endure  martyrdom,  might  well  be  sufficient 


64  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

to  nerve  a  young  man  to  undertake  the  task  of  preach- 
ing unpopular  truths,  even  at  the  risk  of  frequent 
persecution  and  occasional  peril.  But  surely  we  need 
not  suppose  that,  when  Jeremiah  started  on  his  pro- 
phetic career,  he  was  as  one  who  takes  a  leap  in  the 
dark.  Surely  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  him  pro- 
foundly ignorant  of  the  subject-matter  of  prophecy  in 
general,  of  the  kind  of  success  he  might  look  for,  of 
his  own  shrinking  timidity  and  desponding  tempera- 
ment, of  "  the  measure  and  direction  of  the  Divine 
help."  Had  the  son  of  Hilkiah  been  the  first  of  the 
prophets  of  Israel  instead  of  one  of  the  latest ;  had 
there  been  no  prophets  before  him ;  we  might  recognise 
some  force  in  this  criticism.  As  the  facts  lie,  however, 
we  can  hardly  avoid  an  obvious  answer.  With  the 
experience  of  many  notable  predecessors  before  his 
eyes;  with  the  message  of  a  Hosea,  an  Amos,  a 
Micah,  an  Isaiah,  graven  upon  his  heart ;  with  his 
minute  knowledge  of  their  history,  their  struggles  and 
successes,  the  fierce  antagonisms  they  roused,  the  cruel 
persecutions  they  were  called  upon  to  face  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  Divine  commission  ;  with  his  profound 
sense  that  nothing  but  the  good  help  of  their  God  had 
enabled  them  to  endure  the  strain  of  a  lifelong  battle ; 
it  is  not  in  the  least  wonderful  that  Jeremiah  should 
have  foreseen  the  Hke  experience  for  himself.  The 
wonder  would  have  been,  if,  with  such  speaking  ex- 
amples before  him,  he  had  not  anticipated  "the  measure 
and  direction  of  the  Divine  help " ;  if  he  had  been 
ignorant  "  that  opposition  awaited  him  "  ;  if  he  had  not 
already  possessed  a  general  knowledge  of  the  "con- 
tents "  of  his  own  as  of  all  prophecies.  For  there  is 
a  substantial  unity  underlying  all  the  manifold  out- 
pourings of  the   prophetic   spirit.      Indeed,  it   would 


THE   CALL  AND   CONSECRATION,  65 

seem  that  it  is  to  the  diversity  of  personal  gifts,  to 
differences  of  training  and  temperament,  to  the  rich 
variety  of  character  and  circumstance,  rather  than  to 
any  essential  contrasts  in  the  substance  and  purport 
of  prophecy  itself,  that  the  absence  of  monotony,  the 
impress  of  individuality  and  originality  is  due,  which 
characterises  the  utterances  of  the  principal  prophets. 

Apart  from  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of  the  reasons 
alleged,  it  is  very  probable  that  this  opening  chapter 
was  penned  by  Jeremiah  as  an  introduction  to  the  first 
collection  of  his  prophecies,  which  dates  from  the  fourth 
year  of  Jehoiakim,  that  is,  circ.  B.C.  606.  In  that  case, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  prophet  is  relating 
events  which,  as  he  tells  us  himself  (chap.  xxv.  3),  had 
taken  place  three  and  twenty  years  ago  ;  and  as  his 
description  is  probably  drawn  from  memory,  something 
may  be  allowed  for  unconscious  transformation  of  facts 
in  the  light  of  after  experience.  Still,  the  peculiar 
events  that  attended  so  marked  a  crisis  in  his  Hfe  as 
his  first  consciousness  of  a  Divine  call  must,  in  any 
case,  have  constituted,  cannot  but  have  left  a  deep  and 
abiding  impress  upon  the  prophet's  memory ;  and  there 
really  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  for  refusing  to 
believe  that  that  initial  experience  took  the  form  of  a 
twofold  vision  seen  under  conditions  of  trance  or 
ecstasy.  At  the  same  time,  bearing  in  mind  the  Oriental 
passion  for  metaphor  and  imagery,  we  are  not  perhaps 
debarred  from  seeing  in  the  whole  chapter  a  figurative 
description,  or  rather  an  attempt  to  describe  through 
the  medium  of  figurative  language,  that  which  must 
always  ultimately  transcend  description — the  com- 
munion of  the  Divine  with  the  human  spirit.  Real, 
most  real  of  real  facts,  as  that  communion  was  and  is, 
it  can  never  be  directly  communicated  in  words ;  it  can 

5 


66  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

only  be  hinted  and  suggested  through  the  medium  of 
symboKc  and  metaphorical  phraseology.  Language 
itself,  being  more  than  half  material,  breaks  down  in 
the  attempt  to  express  things  wholly  spiritual. 

I  shall  not  stop  to  discuss  the  importance  of  the  general 
superscription  or  heading  of  the  book,  which  is  given 
in  the  first  three  verses.  But  before  passing  on,  I  will 
ask  you  to  notice  that,  whereas  the  Hebrew  text  opens 
with  the  phrase  Dibre  Yirmeydhu  (-I^^PT.  ^?'^);  "  The 
words  of  Jeremiah,"  the  oldest  translation  we  have, 
viz.  the  Septuagint,  reads :  "  The  word  of  God  which 
came  to  Jeremiah "  (to  prjfxa  rov  Oeov  o  iyevero  eirl 
'lepefilav).  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  the  old  Greek 
translator  had  a  Hebrew  text  different  from  that  which 
lias  come  down  to  us,  and  opening  with  the  same 
formula  which  we  find  at  the  beginning  of  the  older 
prophets  Hosea,  Joel,  and  Micah.  In  fact,  Amos  is 
the  only  prophet,  besides  Jeremiah,  whose  book  begins 
with  the  phrase  in  question  (didi;  nm — ^670^  A^m) ; 
and  although  it  is  more  appropriate  there  than  here, 
owing  to  the  continuation  "  And  he  said,"  it  looks 
suspicious  even  there,  when  we  compare  Isaiah  i.  i, 
and  observe  how  much  more  suitable  the  term  "vision" 
iS\'^^)  would  be.  It  is  likely  that  the  LXX.  has  pre- 
served the  original  reading  of  Jeremiah,  and  that  some 
editor  of  the  Hebrew  text  altered  it  because  of  the 
apparent  tautology  with  the  opening  of  ver.  2  :  **  To 
whom  the  word  of  the  Lord  (LXX.  rov  ©eov)  came  in  the 
days  of  Josiah." 

Such  changes  were  freely  made  by  the  scribes  in 
the  days  before  the  settlement  of  the  O.  T.  canon ; 
changes  which  may  occasion  much  perplexity  to  those, 
if  any  there  be,  who  hold  by  the  unintelligent  and 
obsolete  theory  of  verbal  and  even  literal  inspiration, 


THE  CALL  AND  CONSECRATION.  67 

but  none  at  all  to  such  as  recognise  a  Divine  hand  in 
the  facts  of  history/  and  are  content  to  believe  that 
in  holy  books,  as  in  holy  men,  there  is  a  Divine  treasure 
in  earthen  vessels.  The  textual  difference  in  question 
may  serve  to  call  our  attention  to  the  peculiar  way  in 
which  the  prophets  identified  their  work  with  the 
Divine  will,  and  their  words  with  the  Divine  thoughts ; 
so  that  the  words  of  an  Amos  or  a  Jeremiah  were  in 
all  good  faith  held  and  believed  to  be  self-attesting 
utterances  of  the  Unseen  God.  The  conviction  which 
wrought  in  them  was,  in  fact,  identical  with  that  which 
in  after  times  moved  St.  Paul  to  affirm  the  high  calling 
and  inalienable  dignity  of  the  Christian  ministry  in 
those  impressive  words,  '^  Let  a  man  so  account  of  us 
as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and  stewards  of  the  mys- 
teries of  God." 

Vv.  5-10,  which  relate  how  the  prophet  became  aware 
that  he  was  in  future  to  receive  revelations  from  above, 
constitute  in  themselves  an  important  revelation.  Under 
Divine  influence  he  becomes  aware  of  a  special  mission. 
Ere  I  began  to  form  (mould,  fashion,  1^%  as  the  potter 
moulds  the  clay)  thee  in  the  belly ^  I  knew  thee ;  and 
ere  thou  begannest  to  come  forth  from  the  womb^  I 
had  dedicated  thee^'  not  *^ regarded  thee  as  holy," 
Isa.  viii.  13  ;  nor  perhaps  "  declared  thee  holy,"  as  Ges.  ; 
but  *^  hallozved  thee,"  i.e.  dedicated  thee  to  God,  Judg. 
xvii.  3;  I  Kings  ix.  3;  especially  Lev.  xxvii.  14;  of 
money  and  houses.  The  pi.  of  consecrating  priests, 
Ex.  xxviii.  41  ;  altar,  Ex.  xxix.  36,  temple,  mountain, 
etc.) ;  perhaps  also,  "  consecrated  thee "  for  the  dis- 
charge  of  a   sacred    office.     Even  soldiers  are  called 

*  Even  in  the  history  of  the  transmission  of  ancient  writ'mgs, 

•  Isa.  xiiv.  24,  rt03D  in^:v,  xiix.  5, 1^  HSi;^  jtpsD  n.v* 


68  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

consecrated  (D'''^Ji^p  Isa.  xiii.  3),  as  ministers  of  the 
Lord  of  Hosts,  and  probably  as  having  been  formally 
devoted  to  His  service  at  the  outset  of  a  campaign  by 
special  solemnities  of  lustration  and  sacrifice;  while 
guests  bidden  to  a  sacrificial  feast  had  to  undergo  a 
preliminary  form  of  consecration  (i  Sam.  xvi.  5  ;  Zeph. 
i.  7),  to  fit  them  for  communion  with  Deity. 

With  the  certainty  of  his  own  Divine  calling,  it 
became  clear  to  the  prophet  that  the  choice  was  not  an 
arbitrary  caprice ;  it  was  the  execution  of  a  Divine 
purpose,  conceived  long,  long  before  its  realisation  in 
time  and  space.  The  God  whose  foreknowledge  and 
will  directs  the  whole  course  of  human  history — whose 
control  of  events  and  direction  of  human  energies  is 
most  signally  evident  in  precisely  those  instances  where 
men  and  nations  are  most  regardless  of  Him,  and 
imagine  the  vain  thought  that  they  are  independent  of 
Him  (Isa.  xxii.  II,  xxxvii.  26) — this  sovereign  Being, 
in  the  development  of  whose  eternal  purposes  he  him- 
self, and  every  son  of  man  was  necessarily  a  factor, 
had  from  the  first  ^*  known  him," — known  the  individual 
character  and  capacities  which  would  constitute  his  fit- 
ness for  the  special  work  of  his  life ; — and  ''  sanctified  " 
him ;  devoted  and  consecrated  him  to  the  doing  of  it 
when  the  time  of  his  earthly  manifestation  should 
arrive.  Like  others  who  have  played  a  notable  part 
in  the  affairs  of  men,  Jeremiah  saw  with  clearest  vision 
that  he  was  himself  the  embodiment  in  flesh  and  blood 
of  a  Divine  idea ;  he  knew  himself  to  be  a  deliberately 
planned  and  chosen  instrument  of  the  Divine  activity. 
It  was  this  seeing  himself  as  God  saw  him,  which 
constituted  his  difference  from  his  fellows,  who  only 
knew  their  individual  appetites,  pleasures  and  interests, 
and  were  blinded,  by  their  absorption  in  these,  to  the 


THE  CALL  AND   CONSECRATION.  69 

perception  of  any  higher  reality.  It  was  the  coming 
to  this  knowledge  of  himself^  of  the  meaning  and 
purpose  of  his  individual  unity  of  powers  and  aspira- 
tions in  the  great  universe  of  being,  of  his  true  relation 
to  God  and  to  man,  which  constituted  the  first  reve- 
lation to  Jeremiah,  and  which  was  the  secret  of  his 
personal  greatness. 

This  knowledge,  however,  might  have  come  to  him 
in  vain.  Moments  of  illumination  are  not  always 
accompanied  by  noble  resolves  and  corresponding 
actions.  It  does  not  follow  that,  because  a  man  sees 
his  calling,  he  will  at  once  renounce  «//,  and  pursue  it. 
Jeremiah  would  not  have  been  human,  had  he  not 
hesitated  a  while,  when,  after  the  inward  light,  came 
the  voice,  A  spokesman^  or  Divine  interpreter  (i<^3J), 
to  the  nations  appoint  I  thee.  To  have  passing  flashes 
of  spiritual  insight  and  heavenly  inspiration  is  one 
thing;  to  undertake  now^  in  the  actual  present,  the 
course  of  conduct  which  they  unquestionably  indicate 
and  involve,  is  quite  another.  And  so,  when  the  hour 
of  spiritual  illumination  has  passed,  the  darkness  may 
and  often  does  become  deeper  than  before. 

And  I  saidy  Alas  !  O  Lord  lahvah,  behold  I  know 
not  how  to  speak;  for  I  am  but  a  youth.  The  words 
express  that  reluctance  to  begin  which  a  sense  of 
unpreparedness,  and  misgivings  about  the  unknown 
future,  naturally  inspire.  To  take  the  first  step 
demands  decision  and  confidence;  but  confidence  and 
decision  do  not  come  of  contemplating  oneself  and  one's 
own  unfitness  or  unpreparedness,  but  of  steadfastly 
fixing  our  regards  upon  God,  who  will  qualify  us  for 
all  that  He  requires  us  to  do.  Jeremiah  does  not  refuse 
to  obey  His  call ;  the  very  words  "  My  Lord  lahvah  " 
■ — 'Adonai,  Master,  or  my  Master — imply  a  recognition 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 


of  the  Divine  right  to  his  service ;  he  merely  alleges 
a  natural  objection.  The  cry,  ''Who  is  sufficient  for 
these  things  ?  "  rises  to  his  lips,  when  the  light  and 
the  glory  are  obscured  for  a  moment,  and  the  reaction 
and  despondency  natural  to  human  weakness  ensue. 
And  lahvah  said  unto  me.  Say  not^  I  am  hut  a  youth; 
for  unto  all  that  I  send  thee  unto,  thou  shall  go,  and  all 
that  I  command  thee  thou  shall  speak.  Be  not  afraid 
of  them ;  for  with  thee  am  I  to  rescue  thee,  is  the  utter- 
ance of  lahvah.  "  Unto  all  that  I  send  thee  unto "  ; 
for  he  was  to  be  no  local  prophet ;  his  messages  were 
to  be  addressed  to  the  surrounding  peoples  as  well  as 
to  Judah ;  his  outlook  as  a  seer  was  to  comprise  the 
entire  political  horizon  (ver.  lO,  xxv.  9,  15,  xlvi.  sqq.). 
Like  Moses  (Ex.  iv.  10),  Jeremiah  objects  that  he  is 
no  practised  speaker ;  and  this  on  account  of  youthful 
inexperience.  The  answer  is  that  his  speaking  will 
depend  not  so  much  upon  himself  as  upon  God  :  "  All 
that  I  command  thee,  thou  shalt  speak."  The  allega- 
tion of  his  youth  also  covers  a  feeling  of  timidity, 
which  would  naturally  be  excited  at  the  thought  of 
encountering  kings  and  princes  and  priests,  as  well  as 
the  common  people,  in  the  discharge  of  such  a  com- 
mission. This  implication  is  met  by  the  Divine 
assurance  :  "  Unto  all  " — of  whatever  rank — "  that  I 
send  thee  unto,  thou  shalt  go  " ;  and  by  the  encourag- 
ing promise  of  Divine  protection  against  all  opposing 
powers  :  "  Be  not  afraid  of  them  ;  for  with  thee  am 
I  to  rescue  thee."  ^ 

And  lahvah  put  forth  His  hand  and  touched  my 
mouth :  and  lahvah  said  unto  me,  Behold  I  have  put 
My  words  in  thy  mouth  !      This  word  of  the   Lord, 

1  For  the  words  of  this  promise,  cf.  ver.  19  infr.^  xv.  20,  xlii.  1 1. 


THE   CALL  AND   CONSECRATION.  Ji 

says  Hitzig,  is  represented  as  a  corporeal  substance ; 
in  accordance  with  the  Oriental  mode  of  thought  and 
speech,  which    invests    everything   with    bodily    form. 
He  refers  to  a  passage  in  Samuel  (2  Sam.  xvii.  5)  where 
Absalom  says,  "  Call  now  Hushai  the  Archite,  and  let 
us  hear  thai  zvJiich  is  in  his  mouth  also  ;  "  as  if  what  the 
old  counsellor  had  to  say  were  something  solid  in  more 
senses  than  one.     But  we  need  not  press   the  literal 
force   of  the   language.     A   prophet  who   could   write 
(v.   14):   "Behold  I  am  about  to  make  my  words   in 
thy  mouth  fire  and  this  people  logs  of  wood  ;  and  it 
shall  devour  them;"  or  again  (xv.    16),   "Thy  words 
were  found,  and  I  did  eat  them ;  and  Thy  word  became 
unto  me  a  joy  and  my  heart's  delight,"  may  also  have 
written,  "  Behold  I  have  put  My  words  in  thy  mouth  ! " 
without  thereby  becoming  amenable  to  a  charge  of  con- 
fusing fact  with  figure,  metaphor  with  reality.     Nor  can 
I  think  the  prophet  means  to  say  that,  although,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  Divine  word  already  dwelt  in  him,  it 
was  now  "  put  in  his  mouth,"  in  the  sense  that  he  was 
henceforth  to  utter  it.     Stripped  of  the  symbolism  of 
vision,  the  verse  simply  asserts  that  the  spiritual  change 
which  came  over  Jeremiah  at  the  turning  point  in  his 
career  was  due  to  the  immediate  operation  of  God  ;  and 
that  the  chief  external  consequence  of  this  inward  change 
was  that  powerful  preaching  of  Divine  truth,  by  which 
he  was  henceforth  known.     The  great  Prophet  of  the 
Exile  twice  uses  the  phrase,  "  I  have  set  My  words  in 
thy  mouth"  (Isa.  li.   16,  lix.  21)  with  much  the  same 
meaning  as  that  intended  by  Jeremiah,    but    without 
the  preceding  metaphor  about  the  Divine  hand. 

See  I  have  this  day  set  thee  over  the  nations  and 
over  the  kingdoms,  to  root  out  and  to  pull  down,  and 
to  destroy  and  to  overturn;    to  rebuild  and  to  replau!. 


72  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

Such,  following  the  Hebrew  punctuation,  are  the  terms 
of  the  prophet's  commission  ;  and  they  are  well  worth 
consideration,  as  they  set  forth  with  all  the  force  of 
prophetic  idiom  his  own  conception  of  the  nature  of 
that  commission.  First,  there  is  the  implied  assertion 
of  his  own  official  dignity  :  the  prophet  is  made  a 
paqid  (Gen.  xli.  34,  "  officers "  set  by  Pharaoh  over 
Egypt ;  2  Kings  xxv.  19  a  military  prefect)  a  prefect  or 
superintendent  of  the  nations  of  the  world.  It  is  the 
Hebrew  term  corresponding  to  the  eVtWoTTo?  of  the  New 
Testament  and  the  Christian  Church  (Judg.  ix.  28  ; 
Neh.  xi.  9).  And  secondly,  his  powers  are  of  the  widest 
scope ;  he  is  invested  with  authority  over  the  destinies 
of  all  peoples.  If  it  be  asked  in  what  sense  it  could  be 
truly  said  that  the  ruin  and  renascence  of  nations  was 
subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  prophets,  the  answer 
is  obvious.  The  word  they  were  authorised  to  declare 
was  the  word  of  God.  But  God's  word  is  not  some- 
thing whose  efficacy  is  exhausted  in  the  human  utter- 
ance of  it.  God's  word  is  an  irreversible  command, 
fulfilling  itself  with  all  the  necessity  of  a  law  of  nature. 
The  thought  is  well  expressed  by  a  later  prophet : 
"For  as  the  rain  cometh  down,  and  the  snow  from 
heaven,  and  returneth  not  thither,  but  watereth  the 
earth,  and  maketh  it  bring  forth  and  spring;  and 
yieldeth  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  to  the  eater  :  so 
shall  My  word  become,  that  goeth  forth  out  of  My 
mouth ;  it  shall  not  return  to  Me  empty  (Qpn),  but  shall 
surely  do  that  which  I  have  willed,  and  shall  carry 
through  that  for  which  I  sent  it"  (or  ^' shall  prosper 
him  whom  I  have  sent,"  Isa.  Iv.  10,  li).  All  that  hap- 
pens is  merely  the  selfaccomplishment  of  this  Divine 
word,  which  is  only  the  human  aspect  of  the  Divine 
will.      If,    therefore,    the  absolute  dependence  of  the 


THE   CALL  AND   CONSECRATLON.  73 

prophets  upon  God  for  their  knowledge  of  this  word 
be  left  out  of  account,  they  appear  as  causes,  when 
they  are  in  truth  but  instruments,  as  agents  when  they 
are  only  mouthpieces.  And  so  Ezekiel  writes,  "  when  I 
came  to  destroy  the  city  "  (Ezek.  xliii.  3),  meaning  when 
I  announced  the  Divine  decree  of  its  destruction.  The 
truth  upon  which  this  peculiar  mode  of  statement 
rests — the  truth  that  the  will  of  God  must  be  and 
always  is  done  in  the  world  that  God  has  made  and  is 
making — is  a  rock  upon  which  the  faith  of  His  mes- 
sengers may  always  repose.  What  strength,  what 
staying  power  may  the  Christian  preacher  find  in 
dwelling  upon  this  almost  visible  fact  of  the  self-ful- 
filling will  and  word  of  God,  though  all  around  him 
he  hear  that  will  questioned,  and  that  word  disowned 
and  denied  !  He  knows — it  is  his  supreme  comfort  to 
know — that,  while  his  own  efforts  may  be  thwarted, 
that  will  is  invincible ;  that  though  he  may  fail  in  the 
conflict,  that  word  will  go  on  conquering  and  to  conquer, 
until  it  shall  have  subdued  all  things  unto  itself. 


II. 

THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT. 
Jeremiah  ii.  i — iii.  5. 

THE  first  of  the  prophet's  pubhc  addresses  is,  in 
fact,  a  sermon  which  proceeds  from  an  exposure 
of  national  sin  to  the  menace  of  coming  judgment. 
It  falls  naturally  into  three  sections,  of  which  the  first 
(ii.  I- 1 3)  sets  forth  lahvah's  tender  love  to  His  young 
bride  Israel  in  the  old  times  of  nomadic  life,  when 
faithfulness  to  Him  was  rewarded  by  protection  from 
all  external  foes ;  and  then  passes  on  to  denounce  the 
unprecedented  apostasy  of  a  people  from  their  God. 
The  second  (14-28)  declares  that  if  Israel  has  fallen 
a  prey  to  her  enem.ies,  it  is  the  result  of  her  own 
infidelity  to  her  Divine  Spouse ;  of  her  early  notorious 
and  inveterate  falling  away  to  the  false  gods,  who 
are  now  her  only  resource,  and  that  a  worthless  one. 
The  third  section  (ii.  29-iii.  5)  points  to  the  failure  of 
lahvah's  chastisements  to  reclaim  a  people  hardened 
in  guilt,  and  in  a  self-righteousness  which  refused 
warning  and  despised  reproof;  affirms  the  futihty  of 
all  human  aid  amid  the  national  reverses  ;  and  cries 
woe  on  a  too  late  repentance.  It  is  not  difficult  to  fix 
the  time  of  this  noble  and  pathetic  address.  That 
which  follows  it,  and  is  intimately  connected  with  it  in 


ii.  i-iii.  5.]    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    75 

substance,  was  composed  ''in  the  days  of  Josiah  the 
king  "  (iii.  6),  so  that  the  present  one  must  be  placed 
a  little  earlier  in  the  same  reign ;  and,  considering  its 
position  in  the  book,  may  very  probably  be  assigned  to 
the  thirteenth  year  of  Josiah,  i.e.  b.c.  629,  in  which  the 
prophet  received  his  Divine  call.  This  is  the  ordinary 
opinion  ;  but  one  critic  (Knobel)  refers  the  discourse  to 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim,  on  account  of 
the  connexion  with  Egypt  which  is  mentioned  in  vv. 
18,  36,  and  the  humiliation  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
Egyptians  which  is  mentioned  in  ver.  16 ;  while  another 
(Graf)  maintains  that  chaps,  ii.-vi.  were  composed  in 
the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  as  if  the  prophet  had 
com.mitted  nothing  to  writing  before  that  date — an 
assumption  which  seems  to  run  counter  to  the  impli- 
cation conveyed  by  his  own  statement,  chap,  xxxvi.  2. 
This  latter  critic  has  failed  to  notice  the  allusions  in 
chaps,  iv.  14,  vi.  8,  to  an  approaching  calamity  which 
may  be  averted  by  national  reformation,  to  which  the 
people  are  invited ; — an  invitation  wholly  incompatible 
with  the  prophet's  attitude  at  that  hopeless  period. 
The  series  of  prophecies  beginning  at  chap.  iv.  3  is 
certainly  later  in  time  than  the  discourse  we  are  now 
considering ;  but  as  certainly  belongs  to  the  immediate 
subsequent  years. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  first  two  of  Jeremiah's 
addresses  were  called  forth  by  any  striking  event  of 
public  importance,  such  as  the  Scythian  invasion.  His 
new-born  consciousness  of  the  Divine  call  would  urge  the 
young  prophet  to  action  ;  and  in  the  present  discourse 
we  have  the  firstfruits  of  the  heavenly  impulse.  It  is 
a  retrospect  of  Israel's  entire  past  and  an  examination 
of  the  state  of  things  growing  out  of  it.  The  prophet's 
attention  is  not  yet  confined  to  Judah  ;  he  deplores  the 


76  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

rupture  of  the  ideal  relations  between  lahvah  and  His 
people  as  a  whole  (ii.  4;  cf.  iii.  6).  As  Hitzig  has 
remarked,  this  opening  address,  in  its  finished  elabora- 
tion, leaves  the  impression  of  a  first  outpouring  of  the 
heart,  which  sets  forth  at  once  without  reserve  the  long 
score  of  the  Divine  grievances  against  Israel  At  the 
same  time,  in  its  closing  judgment  (iii.  5),  in  its  irony 
(ii.  28),  in  its  appeals  (ii.  21,  31),  and  its  exclamations 
(ii.  12),  it  breathes  an  indignation  stern  and  deep  to 
a  degree  hardly  characteristic  of  the  prophet  in  his 
other  discourses,  but  which  was  natural  enough,  as 
Hitzig  observes,  in  a  first  essay  at  moral  criticism, 
a  first  outburst  of  inspired  zeal. 

In  the  Hebrew  text  the  chapter  begins  with  the  same 
formula  as  chap.  i.  (ver.  4) :  '*  And  there  fell  a  word  of 
lahvah  unto  me,  saying."  But  the  LXX.  reads  :  ''  And 
he  said,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  {koX  elire,  rdBe  Xeyeb 
KvpLos:) ;  a  difference  which  is  not  immaterial,  as  it  may 
be  a  trace  of  an  older  Hebrew  recension  of  the  pro- 
phet's work,  in  which  this  second  chapter  immediately 
followed  the  original  superscription  of  the  book,  as  given 
in  chap.  i.  I,  2,  from,  which  it  was  afterwards  separated 
by  the  insertion  of  the  narrative  of  Jeremiah's  call  and 
visions  (iDiSM :  cf.  Amos  i.  2).  Perhaps  we  may  see 
another  trace  of  the  same  thing  in  the  fact  that  where- 
as chap.  i.  sends  the  prophet  to  the  rulers  and  people 
of  Judah,  this  chapter  is  in  part  addressed  to  collective 
Israel  (ver.  4);  which  constitutes  a  formal  disagreement. 
If  the  reference  to  Israel  is  not  merely  retrospective 
and  rhetorical, — if  it  imphes,  as  seems  to  be  assumed, 
that  the  prophet  really  meant  his  words  to  affect  the 
remnant  of  the  northern  kingdom  as  well  as  Judah, — 
we  have  here  a  valuable  contemporary  corroboration 
of  the    much    disputed    assertion    of    the    author   of 


11.  i-iii.  5.]    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    77 

Chronicles,  that  king  Josiah  abolished  idolatry  "in 
the  cities  of  Manasseh  and  Ephraim  and  Simeon  even 
unto  Naphtali,  to  wit,  in  their  ruins  round  about" 
(2  Chron.  xxxiv.  6),  as  well  as  in  Judah  and  Jerusalem  ; 
and  that  Manasseh  and  Ephraim  and  "the  remnant 
of  Israel"  (2  Chron.  xxxiv.  9,  of.  21)  contributed  to 
his  restoration  of  the  temple.  These  statements  of 
the  Chronicler  imply  that  Josiah  exercised  authority 
in  the  ruined  northern  kingdom,  as  well  as  in  the  more 
fortunate  south;  and  so  far  as  this  first  discourse  of 
Jeremiah  was  actually  addressed  to  Israel  as  well  as 
to  Judah,  those  disputed  statements  find  in  it  an  un- 
designed confirmation.  However  this  may  be,  as  a 
part  of  the  first  collection  of  the  author's  prophecies, 
there  is  little  doubt  that  the  chapter  was  read  by 
Baruch  to  the  people  of  Jerusalem  in  the  fourth  year 
of  Jehoiakim  (chap,  xxxvi.  6). 

Go  thou  and  cry  in  the  ears  of  Jerusalem :  Thus 
hath  lahvah  said  (or  thought:  This  is  the  Divine 
thought  concerning  thee  !)  /  have  remembered  for  thee 
the  kindness  of  thy  youth,  the  love  of  thine  espousals; 
thy  following  Me  (as  a  bride  follows  her  husband 
to  his  tent)  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  land  unsown. 
A  dedicated  thing  (p^[> :  like  the  high  priest,  on  whose 
mitre  was  graven  ninj^  ^ip)  was  Israel  to  lahvah,  His 
firstfruits  of  increase ;  all  who  did  eat  him  were  held 
guilty,  ill  would  come  to  them,  saith  lahvah  (vers.  2,  3). 
— "I  have  remembered  for  thee,"  i.e.  in  thy  favour,  to 
thy  benefit — as  when  Nehemiah  prays,  "  Remember  in 
my  favour,  O  my  God,  for  good,  all  that  I  have  done 
upon  this  people,"  (Neh.  v.  19) — "the  kindness" — ^DH 
— the  warm  affection  of  thy  youth,  "the  love  of  thine 
espousals,"  or  the  charm  of  thy  bridal  state  (Hos.  ii.  15, 
xi.   i) ;  the  tender  attachment  of  thine  early  days,  of 


78  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

thy  new  born  national  consciousness,  when  lahvah  had 
chosen  thee  as  His  bride,  and  called  thee  to  follow  Him 
out  of  Egypt.  It  is  the  figure  which  we  find  so  ela- 
borately developed  in  the  pages  of  Hosea.  The  "  bridal 
state  "  is  the  time  from  the  Exodus  to  the  taking  of  the 
covenant  at  Sinai  (Ezek.  xvi.  8),  which  was,  as  it  were, 
the  formal  instrument  of  the  marriage ;  and  Israel's  - 
young  love  is  explained  as  consisting  in  turning  her 
back  upon  '*  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt "  (Ex.  xvi.  3),  at  the 
call  of  lahvah,  and  following  her  Divine  Lord  into  the 
barren  steppes.  This  forsaking  of  all  worldly  comfort 
for  the  hard  life  of  the  desert  was  proof  of  the  sincerity 
of  Israel's  early  love.  [The  evidently  original  words 
"  in  the  wilderness,  a  land  unsown,"  are  omitted  by  the 
LXX.,  which  renders  :  ''  I  remembered  the  mercy  of 
thy  youth,  and  the  love  of  thy  nuptials  (reXetoxjt?,  con- 
summation), so  that  thou  followedst  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel,  saith  lahvah."]  lahvah's  "remembrance"  of 
this  devotion,  that  is  to  say,  the  return  He  made  for  it, 
is  described  in  the  next  verse.  Israel  became  not  "  holi- 
ness "  but  a  holy  or  hallowed  thing ;  a  dedicated  object, 
belonging  wholly  and  solely  to  lahvah,  a  thing  which 
it  was  sacrilege  to  touch ;  lahvah's  "  firstfruits  of 
increase"  (Heb.  nnsun  n^w\si).  This  last  phrase  is 
to  be  explained  by  reference  to  the  well-known  law  of 
the  firstfruits  (Ex.  xxiii.  19;  Deut.  xviii.  4,  xxvi.  lo), 
according  to  which  the  first  specimens  of  all  agricul- 
tural produce  were  given  to  God.  .  Israel,  like  the  firstlings 
of  cattle  and  the  firstfruits  of  corn  and  wine  and  oil, 
was  rwnh  t^^p  consecrated  to  lahweh;  and  therefore 
none  might  eat  of  him  without  ofiending.  "  To  eat "  or 
devour  is  a  term  naturally  used  of  vexing  and  destroy- 
ing a  nation  (x.  25,  1.  7;  Deut.  vii.  16,  "And  thou 
shalt  eat  up  all  the  peoples,  which  Jehovah  thy  God  is 


ii.  i-iii.5.]     THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    79 

about  to  give  thee ; "  Isa.  i.  7 ;  Ps.  xiv.  4,  "  Who  eat 
up  My  people  as  they  eat  bread").  The  literal  transla- 
tion is,  ^^All  his  eaters  become  guilty  (or  are  treated 
as  guilty,  punished) ;  evil  cometh  to  them  ;  "  and  the 
verbs,  being  in  the  imperfect,  denote  what  happened 
again  and  again  in  Israel's  history  ;  lahvah  suffered 
no  man  to  do  His  people  wrong  with  impunity.  This, 
then,  is  the  first  count  in  the  indictment  against  Israel, 
that  lahvah  had  not  been  unmindful  of  her  early 
devotion,  but  had  recognised  it  by  throwing  the  shield 
of  sanctity  around  her,  and  making  her  inviolable 
against  all  external  enemies  (vv.  1-3).  The  prophet's 
complaint,  as  developed  in  the  following  section  (vv. 
4-8),  is  that,  in  spite  of  the  goodness  of  lahvah,  Israel 
has  forsaken  Him  for  idols.  ^^  Hear  ye  the  word  of 
lahvah^  O  house  0/  Jacob,  and  all  the  clans  oj  the  house 
of  Israel r'  All  Israel  is  addressed,  and  not  merely 
the  surviving  kingdom  of  Judah,  because  the  apostasy 
had  been  universal.  A  special  reference  apparently 
made  in  ver.  8  to  the  prophets  of  Baal,  who  flourished 
only  in  the  nortliern  kingdom.  We  may  compare  the 
word  of  Amos  "against  the  whole  clan,'  which  lahvah 
''brought  up  from  the  land  of  Egypt"  (Amos  iii.  i), 
spoken  at  a  time  when  Ephraim  was  yet  in  the  heyday 
of  his  power. 

Thus  hath  lahvah  said.  What  found  your  fathers 
in  Me,  that  was  unjust,  (7}^  a  single  act  of  injustice, 
Ps.  vii.  4;  not  to  be  found  in  lahvah,  Deut.  xxxii.  4) 
that  they  went  far  from  Me  and  followed  the  Folly  and 
were  befooled  (or  the  Delusion  and  were  deluded) 
(ver.  5).  The  phrase  is  used  2  Kings  xvii.  15  in  the  same 
sense  ;  ^"^k}^  "  the  (mere)  breath,"  "  the  nothingness  "  or 
"  vanity,"  being  a  designation  of  the  idols  w^hich  Israel 
went  after  (cf.  also  chap,  xxiii.   16;  Ps,  Ixii.   11;  J  b 


8o  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

xxvii.  12);  much  as  St.  Paul  has  written  that  ''an  idol  is 
nothing  in  the  world  "  (i  Cor.  viii.  4),  and  that,  with 
all  this  boasted  culture,  the  nations  of  classical  antiquity 
'  became  vain,"  or  were  befooled  "  in  their  imagin- 
ations" (€iJLQ.Taici6r]aav  =  )b'2r\>)),  "and  their  foolish 
heart  was  darkened"  (Rom.  i.  21).  Both  the  prophet 
and  the  apostle  refer  to  that  judicial  blindness  which  is 
a  consequence  of  persistently  closing  the  eyes  to  truth, 
and  deliberately  putting  darkness  for  light  and  light  for 
darkness,  bitter  for  sweet,  and  sweet  for  bitter,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  urgency  of  the  flesh.  For  ancient 
Israel,  the  result  of  yielding  to  the  seductions  of  foreign 
worship  was,  that  ''They  were  stultified  in  their  best 
endeavours.  They  became  false  in  thinking  and  believ- 
ing, in  doing  and  forbearing,  because  the  fundamental 
error  pervaded  the  whole  life  of  the  nation  and  of  the 
individual.  They  supposed  that  they  knew  and  honoured 
God,  but  they  were  entirely  mistaken  ;  they  supposed 
they  were  doing  His  will,  and  securing  their  own 
welfare,  while  they  were  doing  and  securing  the  exact 
contrary "  (Hitzig).  And  similar  consequences  will 
always  flow  from  attempts  to  serve  two  masters;  to 
gratify  the  lower  nature,  while  not  breaking  wholly 
with  the  higher.  Once  the  soul  has  accepted  a  lower 
standard  than  the  perfect  law  of  truth,  it  does  not  stop 
there.  The  subtle  corruption  goes  on  extending  its 
ravages  farther  and  farther ;  while  the  consciousness 
that  anything  is  wrong  becomes  fainter  and  fainter  as 
the  deadly  mischief  increases,  until  at  last  the  ruined 
spirit  believes  itself  in  perfect  health,  when  it  is,  in 
truth,  in  the  last  stage  of  mortal  disease.  Perversion 
of  the  will  and  the  affections  leads  to  the  perversion  of 
the  intellect.  There  is  a  profound  meaning  in  the  old 
saying  that,  Men  make  their  gods  in  their  own  likeness. 


ii.  i-iii.  5.]     THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT    81 

As  a  man  is,  so  will  God  appear  to  him  to  be.  "  With 
the  loving,  Thou  wilt  shew  Thyself  loving ;  With  the 
perfect,  Thou  wilt  shew  Thyself  perfect ;  With  the  pure, 
Thou  wilt  shew  Thyself  pure ;  And  with  the  perverse, 
Thou  wilt  shew  Thyself  froward"  (Ps.  xviii.  25  5^.). 
Only  hearts  pure  of  all  worldly  taint  see  God  in  His 
purity.  The  rest  worship  some  more  or  less  imperfect 
semblance  of  Him,  according  to  the  varying  degrees  of 
their  selfishness  and  sin. 

And  they  said  not,  Where  is  lahvah,  who  brought 
us  up  out  of  the  land  oj  Egypt,  that  guided  us  in 
the  wilderness,  in  a  land  of  wastes  and  hollows  (or 
desert  and  defile),  in  a  land  of  drought  and  darkness 
(dreariness  T^xh'^),  in  a  land  that  no  man  passed  through, 
and  where  no  mortal  dwelt  (ver.  6).  *'  They  said  not. 
Where  is  lahvah,  who  brought  us  up  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt."  It  is  the  old  complaint  of  the  prophets  against 
Israel's  black  ingratitude.  So,  for  instance,  Amos  (ii.  lo) 
had  written  :  "  Whereas  I — I  brought  you  up  from  the 
land  of  Egypt,  and  guided  you  in  the  wilderness  forty 
years;"  and  Micah  (vi.  3  sq.)  :  "My  people,  what  have 
I  done  unto  thee,  and  how  have  I  wearied  thee? 
Answer  against  Me.  For  I  brought  thee  up  from  the 
land  of  Egypt,  and  from  a  house  of  bondmen  redeemed 
I  thee."  In  common  gratitude,  they  were  bound  to  be 
true  to  this  mighty  Saviour ;  to  enquire  after  lahvah, 
to  call  upon  Him  only,  to  do  His  will,  and  to  seek  His 
grace  (cf.  xxix.  12  5^.).  Yet,  with  characteristic  fickle- 
ness, they  soon  forgot  the  fatherly  guidance,  which  had 
never  deserted  them  in  the  period  of  their  nomadic 
wanderings  in  the  wilds  of  Arabia  Petraea ;  a  land 
which  the  prophet  poetically  describes  as  "a  land  of 
wastes  and  hollows  " — alluding  probably  to  the  rocky 
defiles  through  which  they  had  to  pass — and  "  a  land 

6 


82  THE  PROPHECIES   OF  JEREMIAH 

of  drought  and  darkness;"^  the  latter  an  epithet  of  the 
Grave  or  Hades  (Job  x.  21),  fittingly  apphed  to  that 
great  lone  wilderness  of  the  south,  which  Isaiah  had 
called  "a  fearsome  land"  (xxi.  i),  and  ''a  land  of 
trouble  and  anguish  "  (xxx.  6),  whither,  according  to 
the  poet  of  Job,  "The  caravans  go  up  and  are  lost" 
(vL  18). 

And  I  brought  you  into  the  garden  land^  to  eat  its 
fruits  and  its  choicest  things  (nn-ID  Isa.  i.  19;  Gen.  xlv. 
18,  20,  23);  and  ye  entered  and  defiled  My  land^  and 
My  domain  ye  made  a  loathsome  thing!  (ver.  7). 
With  the  wilderness  of  the  wanderings  is  contrasted 
the  *'  land  of  the  carmel,''  the  land  of  fruitful  orchards 
and  gardens,  as  in  chap.  iv.  26.;  Isa.  x.  18,  xvi.  lO, 
xxix.  17.  This  was  Canaan,  lahvah's  own  land,  which 
He  had  chosen  out  of  all  countries  to  be  His  special 
dwelling-place  and  earthly  sanctuary ;  but  which  Israel 
no  sooner  possessed,  than  they  began  to  pollute  this 
holy  land  by  their  sins,  like  the  guilty  peoples  whom 
they  had  displaced,  making  it  thereby  an  abomination 
to  lahvah  (Lev.  xviii.  24  sq.,  cf.  chap.  iii.  2). 

The  priests  they  said  not.  Where  is  lahvah  ?  and  they 
that  handle  the  laWj  they  knew  (i.e.  regarded,  heeded) 
Me  not;  and  as  for  the  shepherds  {i.e.  the  king  and 
princes,  ver.  26),  they  rebelled  against  Me,  and  the 
prophets,  they  prophesied  by  (through)  the  Baal,  and 
them  that  help  not  {i.e.  the  false  gods)  they  followed  (ver. 
8).  In  the  form  of  a  climax,  this  verse  justifies  the 
accusation  contained  in  the  last,  by  giving  particu- 
lars. The  three  ruling  classes  are  successively  indicted 
(cf.  ver.26,  ch.  xviii.  18).     The  priests,  part  of  whose 

*  niip?V»  so  far  as  the  punctuation  suggests  that  the  term  is  a 
compound,  meaning  "shadow  of  death,"  is  one  of  the  fictions  of  the 
Masorets,  hke  D^yVN^S  and  D^iO?n  and  nopn  in  the  Psalms. 


ii.  i-iii.  5.]     THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    83 

duty  was  to  *'  handle  the  law,"  i.e.  explain  the  Torah, 
to  instruct  the  people  in  the  requirements  of  lahvah, 
by  oral  tradition  and  out  of  the  sacred  law-books,  gave 
no  sign  of  spiritual  aspiration  (cf.  ver.  6)  ;  like  the 
reprobate  sons  of  Eli,  "  they  knew  not"  (i  Sam.  ii.  12) 
''  lahvah,"  that  is  to  say,  paid  no  heed  to  Him  and  His 
will  as  revealed  in  the  book  of  the  law  ;  the  secular 
authorities,  the  king  and  his  counsellors  ('^  wise  men," 
xviii.  18),  not  only  sinned  thus  negatively,  but  positively 
revolted  against  the  King  of  kings,  and  resisted  His 
will;  while  the  prophets  went  further  yet  in  the  path  of 
guilt,  apostatizing  altogether  from  the  God  of  Israel, 
and  seeking  inspiration  from  the  Phenician  Baal,  and 
following  worthless  idols  that  could  give  no  help. 
There  seems  to  be  a  play  on  the  words  Baal  and 
Belial,  as  if  Baal  meant  the  same  as  Belial,  ''profitless," 
"worthless"  (cf  I  Sam.  ii.  12  :  "Now  Eli's  sons  were 
sons  of  Belial ;  they  knew  not  lahvah."  The  phrase 
•l^rv'N''?  "  they  that  help  not,"  or  "cannot  help,"  suggests 
the  term  ^V!??  Belial ;  which,  however,  may  be  de- 
rived from  v?  "  not,"  and  ^y  "  supreme,"  "  God,"  and 
so  mean  "  not-God,"  "  idol,"  rather  than  "  worthless- 
ness,"  "  unprofitableness,"  as  it  is  usually  explained). 
The  reference  may  be  to  the  Baal-worship  of  Samaria, 
the  northern  capital,  which  was  organised  by  Ahab, 
and  his  Tyrian  queen  (chap,  xxiii.  13). 

Therefore — on  account  of  this  amazing  ingratitude 
of  your  forefathers, — /  will  again  plead  (reason,  argue 
forensically)  with  you  (the  present  generation  in  whom 
their  guilt  repeats  itself)  saith  lahvah^  and  with  your 
sons^  sons  (who  will  inherit  your  sins)  will  I  plead. 
The  nation  is  conceived  as  a  moral  unity,  the  cha- 
racteristics of  which  are  exemplified  in  each  successive 
generation.     To  all  Israel,   past,   present,  and  future, 


84  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

lahvah  will  vindicate  his  own  righteousness.  For 
cross  (the  sea)  to  the  coasts  of  the  Citieans  (the  people 
of  Citium  in  Cyprus)  and  see;  and  to  Kedar  (the  rude 
tribes  of  the  Syrian  desert)  send  ye,  and  mark  well,  and 
see  whether  there  hath  arisen  a  case  like  this.  Hath  a 
nation  changed  gods — albeit  they  are  no-gods  ?  Yet  My 
people  hath  changed  his  (true)  glory  for  that  which  helpeth 
not  (or  is  worthless).  Upheave,  ye  heavens  (yo^ 
D^d:?',  a  fine  paronomasia);  at  this,  and  shudder  (and) 
be  petrified  (^'^'Q  -l^in  Ges.,  '^  be  sore  amazed  "  =  niDti> ; 
but  Hitzig  "be  dry"=stiff  and  motionless,  like  syn. 
K^l*  in  I  Kings  xiii.  4),  saith  lahvah;  for  two  evil  things 
hath  My  people  done:  Me  they  have  forsaken — a 
Fountain  of  living  water — to  hew  them  out  cisterns, 
broken  cisterns,  that  cannot  (imperf.= potential)  hold 
water  (Heb.  the  waters  :  generic  article)  (vv.  9-13).  In 
these  five  verses,  the  apostasy  of  Israel  from  his  own 
God  is  held  up  as  a  fact  unique  in  history — unexampled 
and  inexplicable  by  comparison  with  the  doings  of  other 
nations.  Whether  you  look  westward  or  eastward, 
across  the  sea  to  Cyprus,  or  beyond  Gilead  to  the 
barbarous  tribes  of  the  Cedrei  (Ps.  cxx.  5),  nowhere 
will  you  find  a  heathen  people  that  has  changed  its 
native  worship  for  another ;  and  if  you  did  find  such,  it 
would  be  no  precedent  or  palliation  of  Israel's  behaviour. 
The  heathen  in  adopting  a  new  worship  simply  exchanges 
one  superstition  for  another ;  the  objects  of  his  devotion 
are  "non-gods"  (ver.  ii).  The  heinousness  and  the 
eccentricity  of  Israel's  conduct  lies  in  the  fact  that  he 
has  bartered  truth  for  falsehood ;  he  has  exchanged 
*'  his  Glory " — whom  Amos  (viii.  7)  calls  the  Pride 
(A.V.  Excellency)  of  Jacob — for  a  useless  idol ;  an  ob- 
ject which  the  prophet  elsewhere  calls  "  The  Shame " 
(iii.  24,  xi.  13),  because  it  can  only  bring  shame  and 


ii.  i-iii.S.]     THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    85 

confusion    upon    those  whose  hopes    depend  upon    it. 
The  wonder  of  the  thing  might  well  be  supposed   to 
strike  the  pure  heavens,  the  silent  witnesses  of  it,  with 
blank  astonishment  (of  a  similar  appeal  in  Deut.  iv.  26, 
xxxi.  28,  xxxii.  I,  where  the  earth  is  added).     For  the 
evil  is  not  single  but  twofold.     With  the  rejection  of 
truth  goes  the  adoption  of  error ;  and  both  are  evils. 
Not  only  has  Israel  turned  his  back  upon  '*  a  fountain 
of  Hving  waters;"  he  has  also  "hewn  him  out  cisterns, 
broken  cisterns,  that  cannot  hold  water."    The  "  broken 
cisterns  "  are,  of  course,  the  idols  w^hich  Israel  made  to 
himself     As  a  cistern  full  of  cracks  and  fissures  dis- 
appoints the  wayfarer,  who   has  reckoned  on  finding 
water  in  it ;  so  the  idols,  having  only  the   semblance 
and    not   the  reality    of  life,    avail    their    worshippers 
nothing  (vv.   8,    11).       In    Hebrew    the   waters   of  a 
spring  are  called  "living"  (Gen.  xxi.  19),  because  they 
are  more  refreshing  and,   as  it  were,  Hfe-giving,  than 
the  stagnant  waters  of  pools  and  tanks  fed  by  the  rains. 
Hence  by  a  natural  metaphor,  the  mouth  of  a  righteous 
man,  or  the  teaching  of  the  wise,  and  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,  are  called  a  fountain  of  life  (Prov.  x.   11,  xiii. 
14,  xiv.   27).     "The  fountain  of  Hfe"  is  with  lahvah 
(Ps.  xxxvi.    10);  nay,  He  is  Himself  the  Fountain  of 
living  waters  (Jer.  xvii.  13);  because  all  Hfe,  and  all 
that    sustains  or  quickens  Hfe,  especially  spiritual  Hfe, 
proceeds  from  Him.     Now  in  Ps.  xix.  8  it  is  said  that 
"  The  law  of  the  Lord — or,  the  teaching  of  lahvah— is 
perfect,  reviving  (or  restoring)  the  soul"  (cf  Lam.  i.  11 ; 
Ruth  iv.  15)  ;  and  a  comparison  of  Micah  and  Isaiah's 
statement   that    "Out  of  Zion  will   go  forth  the  law, 
and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem  "  (Isa.  ii.  3 ; 
Mic.  iv.  2),  with  the  more  figurative  language  of  Joel 
(iii.   18)  and   Zechariah    (xiv.  8),    who   speak   of  "a 


86  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

fountain  going  forth  from  the  house  of  the  Lord,"  and 
"  living  waters  going  forth  from  Jerusalem/'  suggests 
/  the  inference  that  ^'  the  living  waters/'  of  which  lahvah 
is  the  perennial  fountain,  are  identical  with  His  law  as 
revealed  through  priests  and  prophets.  It  is  easy  to  con- 
firm this  suggestion  by  reference  to  the  river  ''whose 
streams  make  glad  the  city  of  God"  (Ps.  xlvi.  4); 
to  Isaiah's  poetic  description  of  the  Divine  teaching, 
of  which  he  was  himself  the  exponent,  as  ''  the  waters 
of  Shiloah  that  flow  softly  "  (viii.  6),  Shiloah  being  a 
spring  that  issues  from  the  temple  rock  ;  and  to  our 
Lord's  conversation  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  in 
which  He  characterises  His  own  teaching  as  "  hving 
waters"  (St.  John  iv.  10),  and  as  "a  well  of  waters, 
springing  up  unto  eternal  Life  "  (ihid.   14). 

Is  Israel  a  bondman^  or  a  homehorn  serf?  Why 
hath  he  become  a  prey?  Over  him  did  young  lions 
roar;  they  uttered  their  voice;  and  they  made  his  land 
a  waste ;  his  citieSy  they  are  burnt  up  (or  thrown  down), 
so  that  they  are  uninhabited.  Yea,  the  sons  of  Noph 
and  Tahpan(Ji)es,  they  did  bruise  thee  on  the  crown. 
Is  not  this  what  (the  thing  that)  thy  forsaking  lahvah 
thy  God  brought  about  for  thee,  at  the  time  He  was 
guiding  thee  in  the  way?  (vv.  14-17).  As  lahvah's 
bride,  as  a  people  chosen  to  be  His  own,  Israel  had 
every  reason  to  expect  a  bright  and  glorious  career. 
Why  was  this  expectation  falsified  by  events  ?  But  one 
answer  was  possible,  in  view  of  the  immutable  righteous- 
ness, the  eternal  faithfulness  of  God.  The  ruin  of  Israel 
was  IsraeVs  own  doing.  It  is  a  truth  which  applies  to  all 
nations,  and  to  all  individuals  capable  of  moral  agency, 
in  all  periods  and  places  of  their  existence.  Let  no 
man  lay  his  failure  in  this  world  or  in  the  world  to 
come  at  the  door  of  the  Almighty.     Let  none  venture 


ii.  1-iii.  5.]     THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    87 

to  repeat  the  thoughtless  blasphemy  which  charges  the 
All-Merciful  with  sending  frail  human  beings  to  expiate 
their  offences  in  an  everlasting  hell !  Let  none  dare  to 
say  or  think,  God  might  have  made  it  otherwise,  but 
He  would  not !  Oh,  no ;  it  is  all  a  monstrous  miscon- 
ception of  the  true  relations  of  things.  You  and  I  are 
free  to  make  our  choice  now,  whatever  may  be  the  case 
hereafter.  We  may  choose  to  obey  God,  or  to  disobey; 
we  may  seek  His  will,  or  our  own.  The  one  is  the  way 
of  life ;  the  other,  of  death,  and  nothing  can  alter  the 
facts ;  they  are  part  of  the  laws  of  the  universe.  Our 
destiny  is  in  our  own  hands,  to  make  or  to  mar.  If  we 
qualify  ourselves  for  nothing  better  than  a  hell — if  our 
daily  progress  leads  us  farther  and  farther  from  God 
and  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  devil — then  hell  will  be 
our  eternal  home.  For  God  is  love,  and  purity,  and 
truth,  and  glad  obedience  to  righteous  laws;  and  these 
things,  realized  and  rejoiced  in,  are  heaven.  And  the 
man  that  lives  without  these  as  the  sovereign  aims 
of  his  existence — the  man  whose  heart's  worship  is 
centred  upon  something  else  than  God — stands  already 
on  the  verge  of  hell,  which  is  "the  place  of  him  that 
knows  not  (and  cares  not  for)  God."  And  unless  we 
are  prepared  to  find  fault  with  that  natural  arrangement 
whereby  like  things  are  aggregated  to  like,  and  all 
physical  elements  gravitate  towards  their  own  kind ;  I 
do  not  see  how  we  can  disparage  the  same  law  in  the 
spiritual  sphere,  in  virtue  of  which  all  spiritual  beings 
are  drawn  to  their  own  place,  the  heavenly-minded 
rising  to  the  heights  above,  and  the  contrary  sort  sinking 
to  the  depths  beneath. 

The  precise  bearing  of  the  question  (ver.  14),  "Is 
Israel  a  bondman,  or  a  homeborn  slave?"  is  hardly 
self-evident.     One     commentator    supposes    that    the 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


implied  answer  is  an  affirmative.  Israel  is  a  "  servant," 
the  servant,  that  is,  the  worshipper  of  the  true  God. 
Nay,  he  is  more  than  a  mere  bondservant ;  he  occupies 
the  favoured  position  of  a  slave  born  in  his  lord's  house 
(cf.  Abram's  three  hundred  and  eighteen  young  men, 
Gen.  xiv.  14),  and  therefore,  according  to  the  custom 
of  antiquity,  standing  on  a  different  footing  from  a  slave 
acquired  by  purchase.  The  *'  home  "  or  house  is  taken 
to  mean  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  the  prophet  Hosea 
had  designated  as  lahvah's  "house"  (Hosea  ix.  15, 
cf  3)  ;  and  the  "  Israel "  intended  is  supposed  to  be  the 
existing  generation  born  in  the  holy  land.  The  double 
question  of  the  prophet  then  amounts  to  this  :  If  Israel 
be,  as  is  generally  admitted,  the  favourite  bondservant 
of  lahvah,  how  comes  it  that  his  lord  has  not  protected 
him  against  the  spoiler  ?  But,  although  this  interpre- 
tation is  not  without  force,  it  is  rendered  doubtful  by 
the  order  of  the  words  in  the  Hebrew,  where  the  stress 
lies  on  the  terms  for  "bondman"  and  "homeborn 
slave " ;  and  by  its  bold  divergence  from  the  sense 
conveyed  by  the  same  form  of  question  in  other  pas- 
sages of  the  prophet,  e.g.  ver.  31  infr.^  where  the  answer 
expected  is  a  negative  one  (cf.  also  chap.  viii.  4,  5, 
xiv.  19,  xHx.  I.  The  formula  is  evidently  characteris- 
tic). The  point  of  the  question  seems  to  lie  in  the 
fact  of  the  helplessness  of  persons  of  servile  condition 
against  occasional  acts  of  fraud  and  oppression,  from 
which  neither  the  purchased  nor  the  homebred  slave 
could  at  all  times  be  secure.  The  rights  of  such 
persons,  however  humane  the  laws  affecting  their 
ordinary  status,  might  at  times  be  cynically  disregarded 
both  by  their  masters  and  by  others  (see  a  notable 
instance,  Jer.  xxxiv.  8  sqq^.  Moreover,  there  may  be 
a  reference  to  the  fact  that  slaves  were  always  reckoned 


u.  i-iii.5.J    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT    89 

in  those  times  as  a  valuable  portion  of  the  booty  of 
conquest ;  and  the  meaning  may  be  that  Israel's  lot  as 
a  captive  is  as  bad  as  if  he  had  never  known  the 
blessings  of  freedom,  and  had  simply  exchanged  one 
servitude  for  another  by  the  fortune  of  war.  The 
allusion  is  chiefly  to  the  fallen  kingdom  of  Ephraim. 
We  must  remember  that  Jeremiah  is  reviewing  the 
whole  past,  from  the  outset  of  lahvah's  special  dealings 
with  Israel.  The  national  sins  of  the  northern  and 
more  powerful  branch  had  issued  in  utter  ruin.  The 
**  young  lions,"  the  foreign  invaders,  had  ^*  roared 
against"  Israel  properly  so  called,  and  made  havoc  of 
the  whole  country  (cf.  iv.  7).  The  land  was  dispeopled, 
and  became  an  actual  haunt  of  lions  (2  Kings  xvii.  25), 
until  Esarhaddon  colonised  it  with  a  motley  gathering 
of  foreigners  (Ezra  iv.  2).  Judah  too  had  suffered 
greatly  from  the  Assyrian  invasion  in  Hezekiah's  time, 
although  the  last  calamity  had  then  been  mercifully 
averted  (Sanherib  boasts  that  he  stormed  and  destroyed 
forty-six  strong  cities,  and  carried  off  200,000  captives, 
and  an  innumerable  booty).  The  implication  is  that 
the  evil  fate  of  Ephraim  threatens  to  overtake  Judah ; 
for  the  same  moral  causes  are  operative,  and  the  same 
Divine  will,  which  worked  in  the  past,  is  working  in  the 
present,  and  will  continue  to  work  in  the  future.  The 
lesson  of  the  past  was  plain  for  those  who  had  eyes 
to  read  and  hearts  to  understand  it.  Apart  from  this 
prophetic  doctrine  of  a  Providence  which  shapes  the 
destinies  of  nations,  in  accordance  with  their  moral 
deserts,  history  has  no  value  except  for  the  gratification 
ef  mere  intellectuil  curiosity. 

Aye,  and  the  children  of  Noph  and  Tahpanhes  they 
bi'uise  (?  used  to  bruise ;  are  bruising:  the  Heb.  li;i>  may 
mean  either)  thee  on  the  crown  (ver.  16).    This  obviously 


90  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

refers  to  injuries  inflicted  by  Egypt,  the  two  royal 
cities  of  Noph  or  Memphis,  and  Tahpanhes  or  Daphnae, 
being  mentioned  in  place  of  the  country  itself.  Judah 
must  be  the  sufferer,  as  no  Egyptian  attack  on  Ephraim 
is  anywhere  recorded ;  while  we  do  read  of  Shishak's 
invasion  of  the  southern  kingdom  in  the  reign  of 
Rehoboam,  both  in  the  Bible  (i  Kings  xiv.  25),  and 
in  Shishak's  own  inscriptions  on  the  walls  of  the 
temple  of  Amen  at  Karnak.  But  the  form  of  the 
Hebrew  verb  seems  to  indicate  rather  some  contem- 
porary trouble ;  perhaps  plundering  raids  by  an  Egyp- 
tian army,  which  about  this  time  was  besieging  the 
Philistine  stronghold  of  Ashdod  (Herod,,  ii.  157).  "  The 
Eg3^ptians  are  bruising  (or  crushing)  thee  "  seems  to  be 
the  sense ;  and  so  it  is  given  by  the  Jewish  commen- 
tator Rashi  (lV^"i^  diffringunt).  Our  English  marginal 
rendering  ("  fed  on  ")  follows  the  traditional  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  Hebrew  term  ("li^lO;  which  is  also  the  case 
with  the  Targum  and  the  Syriac  versions  ;  but  this  can 
hardly  be  right,  unless  we  suppose  that  the  Egyptians 
infesting  the  frontier  are  scornfully  compared  to 
vermin  (read  W'"!!  with  J.  D.  Mich.)  of  a  sort  which, 
as  Herodotus  tells  us,  the  Egyptians  particularly  dis- 
hked  (but  cf.  Mic.  v.  5;  Ges.,  depascunt,  *' eating 
down.") 

The  A.V.  of  ver.  17  presents  a  curious  mistake, 
which  the  Revisers  have  omitted  to  correct.  The  words 
should  run,  as  I  have  rendered  them,  "  Is  not  this " — 
thy  present  ill  fortune — ''  the  thing  that  thy  forsaking 
of  lahvah  thy  God  did  for  thee — at  the  time  when  He 
was  guiding  thee  in  the  way  ? "  The  Hebrew  verb 
does  not  admit  of  the  rendering  in  the  perf.  tense,  for 
it  is  an  impf ,  nor  is  it  a  2nd  pers.  fem.  (n^vri  not  ^*^]3T\) 
but    a    3rd.      The    LXX.    has    it    rightly    (oj^%t   ravra 


ii.  i-iii.  5-]    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    91 

eiroCrjae  croL  to  KaraXtTreLV  ae  ifxe ;),  but  leaves  out  the 
next  clause  which  specifies  the  time.  The  words, 
however,  are  probably  original ;  for  they  insist,  as 
vv.  5  and  31  insist,  on  the  groundlessness  of  Israel's 
apostasy.  lahvah  had  given  no  cause  for  it ;  He  was 
fulfilling  His  part  of  the  covenant  by  "  guiding  them  in 
the  way."  Guidance  or  leading  is  ascribed  to  lahvah 
as  the  true  "  Shepherd  of  Israel "  (chap.  xxxi.  9 ;  Ps. 
Ixxx.  i).  It  denotes  not  only  the  spiritual  guidance 
which  was  given  through  the  priests  and  prophets ;  but 
also  that  external  prosperity,  those  epochs  of  estab- 
lished power  and  peace  and  plenty,  which  were  pre- 
cisely the  times  chosen  by  infatuated  Israel  for  defection 
from  the  Divine  Giver  of  her  good  things.  As  the 
prophet  Hosea  expresses  it,  ii.  8  sq.,  "She  knew  not 
that  it  was  I  who  gave  her  the  corn  and  the  new  wine 
and  the  oil ;  and  silver  I  multiplied  unto  her,  and  gold, 
which  they  made  into  the  Baal.  Therefore  will  I  take 
back  My  corn  in  the  time  of  it,  and  My  new  wine  in  its 
season,  and  will  snatch  away  My  wool  and  My  flax, 
which  were  to  cover  her  nakedness."  And  (chap.  xiii.  6) 
the  same  prophet  gives  this  plain  account  of  his  people's 
thankless  revolt  from  their  God  :  "  When  I  fed  them, 
they  were  sated  ;  sated  were  they,  and  their  heart  was 
lifted  up  :  therefore  they  forgot  Me."  It  is  the  thought 
so  forcibly  expressed  by  the  minstrel  of  the  Book  of  the 
Law  (Deut.  xxxii.  15),  first  published  in  the  early  days 
of  Jeremiah  :  "And  Jeshurun  waxed  fat  and  kicked; 
Thou  waxedst  fat,  and  gross  and  fleshy  !  And  he  for- 
sook the  God  that  made  him.  And  made  light  of  his  pro- 
tecting Rock."  And,  lastly,  the  Chronicler  has  pointed 
the  same  moral  of  human  fickleness  and  frailty  in  the 
case  of  an  individual,  Uzziah  or  Azariah,  the  powerful 
king  of  Judah,  whose  prosperity  seduced  him  into  pre- 


92  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  /EKEMIAH. 

sumption  and  profanity  (2  Chron.  xxvi.  16):  "When 
he  grew  strong,  his  heart  rose  high,  until  he  dealt 
corruptly,  and  was  unfaithful  to  lahvah  his  God."  I 
need  not  enlarge  on  the  perils  of  prosperity  ;  they  are 
known  by  bitter  experience  to  every  Christian  man. 
Not  without  good  reason  do  we  pray  to  be  delivered 
from  evil  "  In  all  time  of  our  wealth  ; "  nor  was  that 
poet  least  conversant  with  human  nature  who  wrote 
that  "Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity." 

And  now — a  common  formula  in  drawing  an  infer- 
ence and  concluding  an  argument — what  hast  thou 
to  do  with  the  way  of  Egypt,  to  drink  the  waters  of 
Shihor  (the  Black  River,  the  Nile) ;  and  what  hast 
thou  to  do  with  the  way  to  Assyria,  to  drink  the 
waters  of  the  River?  {par  excellence,  i.e.,  the  Euphrates). 
Thy  wickedness  correcteth  thee,  and  thy  revolts  it  is 
that  chastise  thee.  Know  then,  and  see  that  evil  and 
bitter  is  thy  forsaking  lahvah  thy  God,  and  thine  having 
no  dread  of  Me,  saith  the  Lord  lahvah  Sabaoth  (vv. 
18,  19).  And  now — as  the  cause  of  all  thy  misfor- 
tunes lies  in  thyself — what  is  the  use  of  seeking  a  cure 
for  them  abroad  ?  Egypt  will  prove  as  powerless  to 
help  thee  now,  as  Assyria  proved  in  the  days  of  Ahaz 
(ver.  36  sq.).  The  Jewish  people,  anticipating  the 
views  of  certain  modern  historians,  made  a  wrong- 
diagnosis  of  their  own  evil  case.  They  traced  all  that 
they  had  suffered,  and  were  yet  to  suffer,  to  the  ill  will 
of  the  two  great  Powers  of  their  time ;  and  supposed 
that  their  only  salvation  lay  in  conciliating  the  one  or 
the  other.  And  as  Isaiah  found  it  necessary  to  cry 
woe  on  the  rebelHous  children,  "  that  walk  to  go  down 
into  Egypt,  and  have  not  asked  at  My  mouth;  to 
strengthen  themselves  in  the  strength  of  Pharaoh,  and 
to  trust  in  the  shadow  of  Egypt  1 "  (Isa.  xxx.  i  sq.),  so 


•  SJ    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    93 


now,  after  so  much  experience  of  the  futility  and  posi- 
tive harmfulness  of  these  unequal  alliances,  Jeremiah 
has  to  hft  his  voice  against  the  same  national  folly. 
^  The  "young  lions"  of  ver.  15  must  denote  the  Assy- 
rians, as  Egypt  is  expressly  named  in  ver.   16.     The 
figure  is  very  appropriate,  for  not  only  was  the  lion  a 
favourite   subject  of  Assyrian   sculpture;  not  only  do 
the  Assyrian    kings    boast   of  their    prowess  as   hon- 
hunters,  while  they  even  tamed  these  fierce  creatures, 
and  trained  them  to  the  chase  ;  but  the  great  strength 
and  predatory  habits  of  the  king  of  beasts  made  him  a 
fitting  symbol  of  that  great  empire  whose  irresistible 
power  was  founded  upon  and  sustained  by  wrong  and 
robbery.     This  reference  makes  it  clear  that  the  pro- 
phet is  contemplating  the  past ;  for  Assyria  was  at  this 
time  already   tottering    to    its    fall,    and   the   Israel  of 
his  day,  i.e.  the  surviving  kingdom  of  Judah,  had  no 
longer  any  temptation  to  court  the  countenance  of  that 
decaying   if  not    already  ruined   empire.     The   sin  of 
Israel    is    an    old   one;  both    it   and  its  consequences 
belong  to  the  past  (ver.  20  compared  with  ver.  14) ;  and 
the  national  attempts  to  find  a  remedy  must  be  referred 
to  the  same  period.     Ver.   36   makes    it   evident  that 
the   prophet's    contemporaries    concerned    themselves 
only  about  an  Egyptian  alliance. 

It  is  an  interesting  detail  that  for  '^the  waters  of 
Shihor,"  the  LXX.  gives  ''  waters  of  Gihon "  (PT^w/y), 
which  it  will  be  remembered  is  the  name  of  one  of  the 
four  rivers  of  Paradise,  and  which  appears  to  have 
been  the  old  Hebrew  name  of  the  Nile  (Ecclus.  xxiv.  27 ; 
Jos.,  Ant,  i.  I,  3).  Shihor  may  be  an  explanatory 
substitute.  For  the  rest,  it  is  plain  that  the  two  rivers 
symbolize  the  two  empires  (cf  Isa.  viii.  7;  chap.  xlvi.  7)  ; 
and  the  expression  ''to  drink  the  waters  "  of  them  must 


94  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

imply  the  receiving  and;  as  it  were,  absorption  of 
whatever  advantage  might  be  supposed  to  accrue  from 
friendly  relations  with  their  respective  countries.  At 
the  same  time,  a  contrast  seems  to  be  intended  between 
these  earthly  waters,  which  could  only  disappoint  those 
who  sought  refreshment  in  them,  and  that  '^  fountain 
of  living  waters"  (ver.  13)  which  Israel  had  forsaken. 
The  nation  sought  in  Egypt  its  deliverance  from  self- 
caused  evil,  much  as  Saul  had  sought  guidance  from 
witches  when  he  knew  himself  deserted  by  the  God 
whom  by  disobedience  he  had  driven  away.  In  seeking 
thus  to  escape  the  consequences  of  sin  by  cementing 
alliances  with  heathen  powers,  Israel  added  sin  to  sin. 
Hence  (in  ver.  19)  the  prophet  reiterates  with  increased 
emphasis  what  he  has  already  suggested  by  a  question 
(ver.  17):  *'Thy  wickedness  correcteth  thee,  and  thy 
revolts  it  is  that  chastise  thee.  Know  then,  and  see 
that  evil  and  bitter  is  thy  forsaking  of  lahweh  thy 
God,  and  thine  having  no  dread  of  Me  ! "  Learn  from 
these  its  bitter  fruits  that  the  thing  itself  is  bad  (Read 
h^  ^^"^DS  as  a  2nd  pers.  instead  of  ^ri'nfpD.  Job  xxi.  33, 
quoted  by  Hitzig,  is  not  a  real  parallel ;  nor  can  the 
sentence,  as  it  stands,  be  rendered,  '^  Und  dass  die 
Scheu  vor  mir  nicht  an  dich  kam  ")  ;  and  renounce  that 
which  its  consequences  declare  to  be  an  evil  course, 
instead  of  aggravating  the  evil  of  it  by  a  new  act  of 
unfaithfulness. 

For  long  ago  didst  thou  break  thy  yoke^  didst  thou 
burst  thy  bonds,  and  saidst,  I  will  not  serve :  Jor  upon 
every  high  hill,  and  under  each  evergreen  tree  thou  wert 
crouching  in  fornication  (vv.  20-24).  Such  seems  to 
be  the  best  way  of  taking  a  verse  v^hich  is  far  from 
clear  as  it  stands  in  the  Masoretic  text.  The  prophet 
labours  to  bring  home  to  his  hearers  a  sense  of  the 


ii.  5.1     THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    95 


reality  of  the  national  sin ;  and  he  affirms  once  more 
(vv.  5,  7)  that  Israel's  apostasy  originated  long  ago, 
in  the  early  period  of  its  history,  and  implies  that 
the  taint  thus  contracted  is  a  fact  which  can  neither 
be  denied  nor  obliterated.  (The  punctuators  of  the 
Hebrew  text,  having  pointed  the  first  two  verbs  as 
in  the  ist  pers.  instead  of  the  2nd  feminine,  were 
obliged,  further,  to  suggest  the  reading  "ini|K  N^J,  "  I 
will  not  transgress,"  for  the  original  phrase  nui;N*  N^  "  I 
will  not  serve  ;  "  a  variant  which  is  found  in  the  Targum, 
and  many  MSS.  and  editions.  "  Serving  "  and  "  bear- 
ing the  yoke  "  are  equivalent  expressions  (xxvii.  1 1,  12) ; 
so  that,  if  the  first  two  verbs  were  really  in  the  1st 
pers.,  the  sentence  ought  to  be  continued  with,  '^  And 
/  said,  Thou  shalt  not  serve."  But  the  purport  of  this 
verse  is  to  justify  the  assertion  of  the  last,  as  is  evident 
from  the  introductory  particle  "  for,"  *?.  The  Syriac 
supports  nnrx ;  and  the  LXX.  and  Vulg.  have  the 
two  leading  verbs  in  the  2nd  pers.,  iv.  19.)  The 
meaning  is  that  Israel,  like  a  stubborn  ox,  has  broken 
the  yoke  imposed  on  him  by  lahvah;  a  statement 
which  is  repeated  in  v.  5  :  "  But  these  have  altogether 
broken  the  yoke,  they  have  burst  *the  bonds  "  (cf.  ver.  31, 
infr.  ;  Hos.  iv.  16;  Acts  xxvi.  14). 

Yet  I — /  planted  thee  with  (or,  as)  noble  vines,  all 
of  them  gerniinc  shoots;  and  how  hast  thou  turned 
Me  thyself  into  the  wild  offshoots  of  a  foreign  vine  ? 
(ver.  21).  The  thought  seems  to  be  borrowed  from 
Isaiah's  Song  of  the  Beloved's  Vineyard  (Isa.  v.  I  sqq.). 
The  nation  is  addressed  as  a  person,  endowed  with  a 
continuity  of  moral  existence  from  the  earliest  period. 
"  The  days  of  the  hfe  of  a  man  may  be  numbered ; 
but  the  days  of  Israel  are  innumerable  "  (Ecclus.  xxxVii. 
25).     It  was  with  the  true  seed  of  Abraham,  the  real 


96  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

Israel,  that  lahvah  had  entered  into  covenant  (Ex. 
xviii.  19 ;  Rom.  ix.  7) ;  and  this  genuine  offspring  of 
the  patriarch  had  its  representatives  in  every  succeed- 
ing generation,  even  in  the  worst  of  times  (i  Kings 
xix.  18).  But  the  prophet's  argument  seems  to  imply- 
that  the  good  plants  had  reverted  to  a  wild  state,  and 
that  the  entire  nation  had  become  hopelessly  degenerate  ; 
which  was  not  far  from  the  actual  condition  of  things 
at  the  close  of  his  career.  The  culmination  of  Israel's 
degeneracy,  however,  was  seen  in  the  rejection  of 
Him  to  whom  ''gave  all  the  prophets  witness."  The 
Passion  of  Christ  sounded  a  deeper  depth  of  sacred 
sorrow  than  the  passion  of  any  of  His  forerunners. 
''  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem  !  Thou  that  killest  the  pro- 
phets, and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto  theel" 

"Then  on  My  head  a  crown  of  thorns  I  wear; 
For  these  are  all  the  grapes  Sion  doth  bear, 
Though  I  My  vine  planted  and  watered  there : 
Was  ever  grief  like  Mine  ?  " 

For  if  thou  wash  with  natron^  and  take  thee  much 
soap,  spotted  (crimsoned ;  Targ.  Is  a.  i.  18  .•  or  written  ^ 
recorded)  is  thy  guilt  before  Me,  saith  My  Lord  lahvah. 
Comparison  with  Isa.  i.  18,  *' Though  thy  sins  be 
as  scarlet  .  .  .  though  they  be  red  like  crimson,"  sug- 
gests that  the  former  rendering  of  the  doubtful  word 
(Dri:p:)  is  correct ;  and  this  idea  is  plainly  better  suited 
to  the  context  than  a  reference  to  the  Books  of  Heaven, 
and  the  Recording  Angel ;  for  the  object  of  washing 
is  to  get  rid  of  spots  and  stains. 

How  canst  thou  say,  I  have  not  defiled  myself; 
after  the  Baals  I  have  not  gone:  See  thy  way  in  the 
valley,  know  what  thou  hast  done,  O  szvft  she- camel, 
running    hither    and  thither   (literally   intertwining  or 


ii.  i-iii.  5.]     THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    97 

crossing  her  ivays)  (ver.  23).     The  prophet  anticipates 
a  possible  attempt  at  Self-justification ;  just  as  in  ver.  35 
he  complains  of  Israel's  self-righteousness.     Both  here 
and  there  he  is  dealing  with  his  own  contemporaries  in 
Judah  ;  whereas  the  idolatry  described  in  ver.  20  sqq. 
is  chiefly  that  of  the  ruined  kingdom  of  Ephraim  (ch. 
iii.  24;  2  Kings  xvii.  10).     It  appears  that  the  worship 
of  Baal  proper  only  existed  in  Judah  for  a  brief  period 
in  the  reign  of  Ahaziah's  usurping  queen  Athaliah,  side 
by  side  wath  the  worship  of  lahvah  (2  Chron.  xxiii.  17) ; 
while  on  the  high-places  and  at  the  local  sanctuaries 
the  God  of  Israel  was  honoured  (2  Kings  xviii.   22). 
So  far  as  the  prophet's  complaints  refer  to  old  times, 
Judah  could  certainly  boast  of  a  relatively  higher  purity 
than  the  northern  kingdom  ;  and  the  manifold  heathenism 
of  Manasseh's  reign  had  been  abolished  a  whole  year 
before  this   address  was  delivered  (2   Chron.  xxxiv.  3 
sqq.\     "  The  valley  "  spoken  of  as  the  scene  of  Judah's 
misdoings  is  that  of  Ben-Hinnom,  south  of  Jerusalem, 
where,  as  the  prophet  elsewhere  relates  (vii.  31,  xxxii. 
35  ;  2  Kings  xxiii.    10),  the  people  sacrificed  children 
by  fire  to  the  god  Molech,  whom  he  expressly  designates 
as  a  Baal  (xix.    5,  xxxii.   35),   using  the  term  in  its 
wider  significance,  which  includes    all  the  aspects  of 
the  Canaanite  sun-god.      And   because  Judah    betook 
herself  now  to  lahvah,  and  now  to  Molech,  varying, 
as  it  were,  her  capricious  course  from  right  to  left  and 
from  left  to  right,  and  halting  evermore  between  two 
opinions  (l   Kings  xviii.  21),  the  prophet  calls  her  ''a 
swift   young    she-camel," — swift,    that    is,    for    evil — 
"  intertwining,  or  crossing  her  ways."     The  hot  zeal 
with  which  the  people  wantonly  plunged  into  a  sensual 
idolatry  is    aptly  set   forth  in   the  figure  of  the  next 
verse.     A  wild  ass,  used  to  the  wilderness  (Job  xxiv.  5), 

7 


98  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

in  the  craving  of  her  soul  she  sniiffeth  tip  (xiv.  6)  the  wind 
{not  "lasst  sie  kaum  Athem  genug  finden,  indem  sie 
denselben  vorweg  vergeudet/'  as  Hitzig  ;  but,  as  a  wild 
beast  scenting  prey,  cf.  xiv.  6,  or  food  afar  off,  she 
scents  companions  at  a  distance);  her  greedy  lust, 
who  can  turn  it  back  ?  None  that  seek  her  need  weary 
themselves  :  in  her  month  they  find  her.  While  passion 
rages,  animal  instinct  is  too  strong  to  be  diverted  from 
its  purpose;  it  is  idle  to  argue  with  blind  appetite; 
it  goes  straight  to  its  mark,  like  an  arrow  from  a  bow. 
Only  when  it  has  had  its  way,  and  the  reaction  of 
nature  follows,  does  the  influence  of  reason  become 
possible.  Such  was  Israel's  passion  for  the  false  gods. 
They  had  no  need  to  seek  her  (Hos.  ii.  7 ;  Ezek.  xvi. 
34) ;  in  the  hour  of  her  infatuation,  she  fell  an  easy 
victim  to  their  passive  allurements.  (The  '^  month  "  is 
the  season  when  the  sexual  instinct  is  strong.)  Warn- 
ings fell  on  deaf  ears.  Keep  back  thy  foot  from  bare- 
7iess,  and  thy  throat  from  thirst!  This  cry  of  the 
prophets  availed  nothing  :  Thou  saidst,  Ii  is  vain  !  (sc. 
that  thou  urgest  me.)  No,  for  I  love  the  strangers 
and  after  them  will  I  go  !  The  meaning  of  the  admoni- 
tion is  not  very  clear.  Some  {e.g.  Rosenmiiller)  have 
understood  a  reference  to  the  shameless  doings,  and 
the  insatiable  cravings  of  lust.  Others  (as  Gesenius) 
explain  the  words  thus  :  ^'  Do  not  pursue  thy  lovers 
in  such  hot  haste,  as  to  wear  thy  feet  bare  in  the 
wild  race !  "  Others,  again,  take  the  prohibition  liter- 
ally, and  connect  the  barefootedness  and  the  thirst 
with  the  orgies  of  Baal-worship  (Hitz.),  in  which  the 
priests  leaped  or  rather  limped  with  bare  feet  (what 
proof?)  on  the  blazing  altar,  as  an  act  of  religious 
mortification,  shrieking  the  while  till  their  throats  were 
parched  and  dry  (Ps.  Ixix.  4,  ^M1|  nnp),  in  frenzied  appeal 


M.  i-iii.5.]     THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    99 

to  their  lifeless  god  (cf.  Ex.  iii.  5  ;  2  Sam.  xv.  30 ; 
I  Kings  xviii  26).  In  this  case,  the  command  is, 
Cease  this  self-torturing  and  bootless  worship !  But 
the  former  sense  seems  to  agree  better  with  the 
context. 

Like  the  shame  of  a  thief,  when  he  is  defected,  so  are 
the  house  of  Israel  ashamed — they,  their  kings^  their 
princes,  and  their  priests^  and  their  prophets;  in  that 
they  say  (are  ever  saying)  to  the  wood  (iii,  9  in  Heb. 
masc).  Thou  art  my  father !  (iii.  4)  and  to  the  stone  (in 
Heb.  fem.).  Thou  didst  bring  me  forth  !  For  they 
(xxxii.  33)  have  turned  towards  Me  the  back  and  not 
the  face;  but  in  the  time  of  their  trouble  they  say  (begin 
to  say),  O  rise  and  save  us  !  But  ivhere  are  thy  gods 
that  thou  modest  for  thyself?  Let  them  arise,  if  they 
can  save  thee  in  the  time  of  thy  trouble ;  for  numerous  as 
thy  cities  are  thy  gods  become,  O  Jiidah  !  (vv.  26-28). 
**  The  Shame "  (n*JOn)  is  the  well-known  title  of 
opprobrium  which  the  prophets  apply  to  Baal.  Even 
in  the  histories,  which  largely  depend  on  prophetic 
sources,  we  find  such  substitutions  as  Ishbosheth  for 
Eshbaal,  the  "Man  of  Shame"  for  "Baal's  Man." 
Accordingly,  the  point  of  ver.  26  sqq.  is,  that  as  Israel 
has  served  the  Shame,  the  idol-gods,  instead  of  lahvah, 
shame  has  been  and  will  be  her  reward  :  in  the  hour 
of  bitter  need,  when  she  implores  help  from  the  One 
true  God,  she  is  put  to  shame  by  being  referred  back 
to  her  senseless  idols.  The  '^  Israel"  intended  is  the 
entire  nation,  as  in  ver.  3,  and  not  merely  the  fallen 
kingdom  of  Ephraim.  In  ver.  28  the  prophet  specially 
addresses  Judah,  the  surviving  representative  of  the 
whole  people.  In  the  book  of  Judges  (x.  10-14)  the  same 
idea  of  the  attitude  of  lahvah  towards  His  faithless 
people  finds  historical  illustration.     Oppressed  by  the 


THE  PROniECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


Ammonites  they  "cried  unto  the  Lord,  saying,  We  have 
sinned  against  Thee,  in  that  we  have  both  forsaken  our 
own  God,  and  have  served  the  Baals ; "  but  lahvah, 
after  reminding  them  of  past  deliverances  followed  by 
fresh  apostasies,  replies  :  "  Go,  and  cry  unto  the  gods 
which  ye  have  chosen  ;  let  them  save  you  in  the  time  of 
your  distress  !  "  Here  also  we  hear  the  echoes  of  a  pro- 
phetic voice.  The  object  of  such  ironical  utterances  was 
by  no  means  to  deride  the  self-caused  miseries  in  which 
Israel  was  involved  ;  but,  as  is  evident  from  the  sequel 
of  the  narrative  in  Judges,  to  deepen  penitence  and 
contrition,  by  making  the  people  realize  the  full  flag- 
rancy  of  their  sin,  and  the  suicidal  folly  of  their  desertions 
of  the  God  whom,  in  times  of  national  distress,  they 
recognised  as  the  only  possible  Saviour.  In  the  same 
way  and  with  the  same  end  in  view,  the  prophetic 
psalmist  of  Deut.  xxxii.  represents  the  God  of  Israel 
as  asking  (ver.  37)  "  Where  are  their  gods  ;  the  Rock  in 
which  they  sought  refuge  ?  That  used  to  eat  the  flesh 
of  their  sacrifices,  that  drank  the  wine  of  their  libation  ? 
Let  them  arise  and  help  you ;  let  them  be  over  you  a 
shelter ! "  The  purpose  is  to  bring  home  to  them  a 
conviction  of  the  utter  vanity  of  idol-worship  ;  for  the 
poet  continues  :  •'  See  now  that  I  even  I  am  He" — the 
one  God — "  and  there  is  no  God  beside  Me  "  (with  Me, 
sharing  My  so!e  attributes)  ;  '^  Tis  I  that  kill  and  save 
alive;  I  have  crushed,  and  /  heal."  The  folly  of  Israel 
is  made  conspicuous,  first  by  the  expression  "  Saying 
to  the  wood.  Thou  art  my  father,  and  to  the  stone. 
Thou  didst  bring  me  forth;"  and  secondly,  by  the 
statement,  "  Numerous  as  thy  cities  are  thy  gods  be- 
come, O  Judah!"  In  the  former,  we  have  a  most 
interesting  glimpse  of  the  point  of  view  of  the  heathen 
worshipper  of  the  seventh  century  b.c,  from  which  it 


iii.  i-iii.5.]  THE  7 RUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.   loi 

appears  that  by  a  god  he  meant  the  original,  i.e.^  the 
real  author  of  his  own  existence.  Much  has  been 
written  in  recent  years  to  prove  that  man's  elementary 
notions  of  deity  are  of  an  altogether  lower  kind  than 
those  which  find  expression  in  the  worship  of  a  Father 
in  heaven ;  but  when  we  see  that  such  an  idea  could 
subsist  even  in  connexion  with  the  most  impure  nature- 
worships,  as  in  Canaan,  and  when  we  observe  that  it 
was  a  familiar  conception  in  the  religion  of  Egypt 
several  thousand  j^ears  previously,  we  may  well  doubt 
whether  this  idea  of  an  Unseen  Father  of  our  race  is 
not  as  old  as  humanity  itself. 

The  sarcastic  reference  to  the  number  of  Judah's 
idols  may  remind  us  of  what  is  recorded  of  classic 
Athens,  in  whose  streets  it  was  said  to  be  easier  to 
find  a  god  than  a  man.  The  irony  of  the  prophet's 
remark  depends  on  the  consideration  that  there  is,  or 
ought  to  be, , safety  in  numbers.  The  impotence  of  the 
false  gods  could  hardly  be  put  in  a  stronger  light  in 
words  as  few  as  the  prophet  has  used.  In  chap.  xi.  13 
he  repeats  the  statement  in  an  amphfied  form :  "  For 
numerous  as  thy  cities  have  thy  gcds  become,  O  Judah ; 
and  numerous  as  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  have  ye 
made  altars  for  The  Shame,  altars  for  sacrificing  to  the 
Baal."  From  this  passage,  apparently,  the  LXX.  de- 
rived the  words  which  it  adds  here  :  "  And  according  to 
the  number  of  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  did  they  sacrifice 
to  the  (image  of)  Baal "  (e6vop  rfj  Bda\). 

Why  contend  ye  with  Me?  All  of  you  have 
rebelled  against  Me,  saith  lahvah.  (LXX.  '^ae^yaare, 
Kol  irdvTe^  vfi€L<;  rjvo[ii[aaTe  eU  ifjii.  "  Ebenfalls 
authentisch"  says  Hitzig).  In  vain  have  I  smitten 
your  sons;  correction  they  (i.e.,  the  people;  but  LXX. 
iBe^aade    may    be    correct),    received    not!   your   czin 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


sword  hath  eaten  up  your  prophets,  like  a  destroying  lion. 
Generation  that  ye  are  !  See  the  word  of  lahvah  I  Is 
it  a  wilderness  that  I  have  been  to  Israel,  or  a  land  of 
deepest  gloom  ?  Why  have  My  people  said,  We  are 
free;  we  will  come  no  more  unto  Thee  ?  Doth  a  virgin 
forget  her  ornaments,  a  bride  her  bands  (or  garlands, 
Rashi)  ?  yet  My  people  hath  forgotten  Me  days  with- 
out number  (vv.  29-32).  The  question,  ^'Why 
contend,  or  dispute  ye  (nnn),  or,  as  the  LXX.  has 
it,  talk  ye  (nmn)  towards  or  about  Me  (h^)  ?  "  im- 
pHes  that  the  people  murmured  at  the  reproaches  and 
menaces  of  the  prophet  (ver.  26  sqq.).  He  answers 
them  b}^  denying  their  right  to  complain.  Their  re- 
bellion has  been  universal;  no  chastisement  has  reformed 
them ;  lahvah  has  done  nothing  which  can  be  alleged 
in  excuse  of  their  unfaithfulness ;  their  sin  is,  therefore, 
a  portentous  anomaly,  for  w^hich  it  is  impossible  to 
find  a  parallel  in  ordinary  human  conduct.  In  vain 
had  •'  their  sons,"  the  young  men  of  military  age, 
fallen  in  battle  (Amos  iv.  10);  the  nation  had  stub- 
bornly refused  to  see  in  such  disasters  a  sign  of 
lahvah's  displeasure,  a  token  of  Divine  chastisement; 
or  rather,  while  recognising  the  wrath  of  heaven,  they 
had  obstinately  persisted  in  believing  in  false  explana- 
tions of  its  motive,  and  refused  to  admit  that  the  purpose 
of  it  was  their  religious  and  moral  amendment.  And 
not  only  had  the  nation  refused  warning,  and  despised 
instruction,  and  defeated  the  purposes  of  the  Divine 
discipline.  They  had  slain  their  spiritual  monitors, 
the  prophets,  with  the  sword ;  the  prophets  who  had 
founded  upon  the  national  disasters  their  rebukes  01 
national  sin,  and  their  earnest  calls  to  penitence  and 
reform(i  Kings  xix.  10;  Neh.  ix.  26;  St.  Matt,  xxiii.  2>7)' 
And  so  when  at  last  the  long  deferred  judgment  arrived, 


ii.  i-iii.5.]    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT,    103 

it  found  a  political  system  ready  to  go  to  pieces 
through  the  feebleness  and  corruption  of  the  ruling 
classes ;  a  religious  system,  of  which  the  spirit  had  long 
since  evaporated,  and  which  simply  survived  in  the 
interests  of  a  venal  priesthood,  and  its  intimate  allies, 
who  made  a  trade  of  prophecy;  and  a  kingdom  and 
people  ripe  for  destruction. 

At  the  thought  of  this  crowning  outrage,  the  prophet 
cannot  restrain  his  indignation.  "  Generation  that  ye 
are!"  he  exclaims,  ''behold  the  word  of  the  Lord. 
Is  it  a  wilderness  that  I  have  been  to  Israel,  or  a  land 
of  deepest  gloom  ?  "  Have  I  been  a  thankless,  barren 
soil,  returning  nothing  for  your  culture  ?  The  question 
is  more  pointed  in  Hebrew  than  in  English;  for  the 
same  term  (i3i;  'abad)  means  both  to  till  the  ground, 
and  to  serve  and  worship  God.  We  have  thus  an 
emphatic  repetition  of  the  remonstrance  with  which 
the  address  opens  :  lahweh  has  not  been  unmindful  of 
Israel's  service  ;  Israel  has  been  persistently  ungrateful 
for  lahvah's  gracious  love.  The  cry  '*  We  are  free  ! " 
(^nn)  implies  that  they  had  broken  away  from  a 
painful  yoke  and  a  burdensome  service  (cf.  ver.  2o)  ; 
the  yoke  being  that  of  the  Moral  Law,  and  the  service 
that  perfect  freedom  which  consists  in  subjection  to 
Divine  Reason.  Thus  sin  alwa3^s  triumphs  in  casting 
away  man's  noblest  prerogative  ;  in  trampling  under 
foot  that  loyalty  to  the  higher  ideal  which  is  the  bridal 
adornment  and  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  soul. 

Why  hiirriest  thou  to  seek  thy  love  ?  (Lit.  why  dost 
thou  make  good  thy  way  ?  somewhat  as  we  say,  ''  to 
make  good  way  with  a  thing")  (ver.  33).  The  key 
to  the  meaning  here  is  supplied  by  ver.  2i^ :  Why  art 
thou  in  such  haste  to  change  thy  way  ?  In  (Of)  Egypt 
also  thou  shalt  be  disappointed^  as  thou  wert  in  Assyria, 


I04  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


The  ''way"  is  that  which  leads  to  Egypt;  and  the 
"love"  is  that  apostasy  from  lahvah  which  invari- 
ably accompanies  an  alliance  with  foreign  peoples 
(ver.  1 8).  If  you  go  to  Assyria,  you  "drink  the 
waters  of  the  Euphrates,"  i.e.y  you  are  exposed  to  all 
the  malign  influences  of  the  heathen  land.  Elsewhere, 
also  (iv.  30),  Jeremiah  speaks  of  the  foreign  peoples, 
whose  connexion  Israel  so  anxiously  courted,  as  her 
"  lovers  "  ;  and  the  metaphor  is  a  common  one  in  the 
propVets. 

The  words  which  follow  are  obscure.  Therefore 
the  evil  things  also  hast  thou  taught  thy  ways.  What 
"evil  things"?  Elsewhere  the  term  denotes  misfor- 
tunes ^  calamities  (Lam.  iii.  38) ;  and  so  probably  here 
(cf.  iii.  5).  The  sense  seems  to  be :  Thou  hast  done 
evil,  and  in  so  doing  hast  taught  Evil  to  dog  thy  steps ! 
The  term  evil  obviously  suggests  the  two  meanings  of 
sin  and  the  punishment  of  sin ;  as  we  say,  "  Be  sure 
your  sin  will  find  you  out  ! "  Ver.  34  explains  what 
was  the  special  sin  that  followed  and  clung  to  Israel : 
AlsOy  in  thy  skirts — the  borders  of  thy  garments — 
are  they  (the  evil  things)  founds  viz.,  the  life-blood 
of  innocent  helpless  ones ;  not  that  thou  didst  find 
them  house-breaking,  and  so  hadst  excuse  for  slaying 
them  (Exod.  xxii.  2) ;  but  for  all  these  warnings  or, 
because  of  all  these  apostasies  and  dallyings  with 
the  heathen,  which  they  denounced  (cf  iii.  7),  thou 
slewest  them.  The  murder  of  the  prophets  (ver.  30) 
was  the  unatoned  guilt  which  clung  to  the  skirts  of 
Israel. 

And  thou  saidst,  Certainly  I  am  absolved!  Surely 
His  wrath  is  turned  away  from  me  I  Behold  I  will 
reason  with  thee,  because  thou  sayest,  I  sinned  not! 
(ver.   35).     This   is   what   the  people  said  when  they 


ii.  i-iii.  5.]    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    105 

murdered  the  prophets.  They,  and  doubtless  their 
false  guides,  regarded  the  national  disasters  as  so  much 
atonement  for  their  sins.  They  believed  that  lahvah's 
wrath  had  exhausted  itself  in  the  infliction  of  what  they 
had  already  endured,  and  that  they  were  now  absolved 
from  their  offences.  The  prophets  looked  at  the  matter 
differently.  To  them,  national  disasters  were  warnings 
of  worse  to  follow,  unless  the  people  would  take  them 
in  that  sense,  and  turn  from  their  evil  ways.  The 
people  preferred  to  think  that  their  account  with 
lahvah  had  been  balanced  and  settled  by  their  mis- 
fortunes in  war  (ver.  30).  Hence  they  slew  those  who 
never  wearied  of  affirming  the  contrary,  and  threatening 
further  woe,  as  false  prophets  (Deut.  xviii.  20).  The 
saying,  "  I  sinned  not  ! "  refers  to  these  cruel  acts  ; 
they  declared  themselves  guiltless  in  the  matter  of 
slaying  the  prophets,  as  if  their  blood  was  on  their  own 
heads.  The  only  practical  issue  of  the  national  troubles 
was  that  instead  of  reforming,  they  sought  to  enter 
into  fresh  alliances  with  the  heathen,  thus,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  prophets,  adding  sin  to  sin.  Why 
art  thou  in  such  haste  to  change  thy  way?  {i.e.  thy 
course  of  action,  thy  foreign  policy).  Through  Egypt 
also  shalt  thou  be  shamed^  as  thou  hast  been  shamea 
through  Assyria.  Out  of  this  affair  also  (or,  from 
him,  as  the  country  is  perhaps  personified  as  a  lover 
of  Judah  ;)  shalt  thou  go  forth  with  thine  hands  upon 
thine  head  (in  token  of  distress,  2  Sam.  xiii.  19 : 
Tamar) ;  for  lahvah  hath  rejected  the  objects  of  thy 
trusty  so  that  thou  canst  not  be  successful  regarding 
them  (w.  36,  37).  The  Egyptian  alliance,  like  the 
former  one  with  Assyria,  was  destined  to  bring  nothing 
but  shame  and  confusion  to  the  Jewish  people.  The 
prophet  urges  past  experience  of  similar  undertakings. 


io6  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 


in  the  hope  of  deterring  the  poHticians  of  the  day  from 
their  foolish  enterprise.  But  all  that  they  had  learnt 
from  the  failure  and  loss  entailed  by  their  intrigues 
with  one  foreign  power  was,  that  it  was  expedient  to 
try  another.  So  they  made  haste  to  "  change  their 
way,"  to  alter  the  direction  of  their  policy  from  Assyria 
to  Egypt.  King  Hezekiah  had  renounced  his  vassalage 
to  Assyria,  in  reliance,  as  it  would  seem,  on  the  support 
of  Taharka,  king  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  (2  Kings 
xviii.  7;  cf.  Isa.  xxx.  1-5) ;  and  now  again  the  nation 
was  coquetting  with  the  same  power.  As  has  been 
stated,  an  Egyptian  force  lay  at  this  time  on  the  con- 
fines of  Judah,  and  the  prophet  may  be  referring  to 
friendly  advances  of  the  Jewish  princes  towards  its 
leaders. 

In  the  Hebrew,  ch.  iii.  opens  with  the  word  "saying" 
(")bj«57).  No  real  parallel  to  this  can  be  found  else- 
where, and  the  Sept.  and  Syriac  omit  the  term. 
Whether  we  follow  these  ancient  authorities,  and  do 
the  same,  or  whether  we  prefer  to  suppose  that 
the  prophet  originally  wrote,  as  usually,  ''And  the 
Word  of  lahvah  came  unto  me,  saying,"  will  not 
make  much  difference.  One  thing  is  clear;  the 
division  of  the  chapters  is  in  this  instance  erroneous, 
for  the  short  section,  iii.  1-5,  obviously  belongs  to 
and  completes  the  argument  of  ch.  ii.  The  state- 
ment of  ver.  37,  that  Israel  will  not  prosper  in  the 
negotiations  with  Egypt,  is  justified  in  iii.  i  by  the 
consideration  that  prosperity  is  an  outcome  of  the 
Divine  favour,  which  Israel  has  forfeited.  The  rejec- 
tion of  Israel's  "confidences"  implies  the  rejection  of 
the  people  themselves  (vii.  29).  If  a  man  divorce  his 
wife  and  she  go  away  from  him  (WND  de  chez  lui)^  and 
become  another  man^s^  doth  he  (her   former  husband) 


ii.  i-iii.5.]    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT.    107 

return    unto    her    again  ?       Would   not    that   land    be 
utterly  polluted?     It    is   the  case    contemplated  in  the 
Book  of  the  Law  (Deut.    xxiv.   1-4),  the  supposition 
being  that  the  second  husband  may  divorce  the  woman, 
or  that  the  bond  between  them  may  be  dissolved  by 
his    death.     In    either   contingency,    the   law   forbade 
reunion   with   the   former   husband,    as    "abomination 
before    lahvah ; "    and    David's    treatment    of  his    ten 
wives,  who  had  been  publicly  wedded  by  his  rebel  son 
Absalom,   proves  the   antiquity   of  the    usage  in  this 
respect   (2    Sam.    xx.    3).     The    relation   of  Israel   to 
lahvah  is   the  relation  to  her  former  husband  of  the 
divorced  wife  who  has  married  another.     If  anything 
it   is    worse.     And  thou,    thou   hast  played  the   harlot 
with  many  paramours ;  and  shalt  thou  return  unto  Me? 
saith  lahvah.     The   very   idea   of  it   is   rejected  with 
indignation.     The   Author   of   the    law    will    not    so 
flagrantly  break  the  law.     (With  the  Heb.  form  of  the 
question,  of.  the  Latin  use  of  the  infin.  "  Mene  incepto 
desistere  victam  ?  ")     The  details  of  the  unfaithfulness 
of  Israel — the  proofs  that  she  belongs  to  others  and 
not   to   lahvah — are   glaringly    obvious ;    contradiction 
is  impossible.     Lift  up  thine   eyes  ttpon   the  bare  fells, 
and  see!   cries  the  prophet;  where  hast  thou  not  been 
forced?     By  the   roadsides   thou  satest  for  them  like  a 
Bedawi  in  the  wilderness,  and  thou  pollutedst  the  lana 
with  thy  whoredom  and  with  thine  evil  (Hos.  vi.  13).    On 
every  hill-top  the  evidence  of  Judah's  sinful  dalliance 
with  idols  was    visible;    in    her  eagerness  to  consort 
with  the    false   gods,   the   objects    of  her    infatuation, 
she  was  like  a  courtesan  looking   out   for  paramours 
by  the  wayside  (Gen.  xxxviii.   14),  or  an  Arab  lying 
in    wait    for    the    unwary    traveller    in    the    desert. 
(There   may    be  a  reference   to    the    artificial   bamoth 


io8  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

or  "high  places"  erected  at  the  top  of  the  streets, ^  on 
which  the  wretched  women,  consecrated  to  the  shameful 
rites  of  the  Canaanite  goddess  Ashtoreth,  were  wont  to 
sit  plying  their  trade  of  temptation  :  2  Kings  xxiii.  8  ; 
Ezek.  xvi.  25).  We  must  never  forget  that,  repulsive 
and  farfetched  as  these  comparisons  of  an  apostate 
people  to  a  sinful  woman  may  seem  to  us,  the  ideas 
and  customs  of  the  time  made  them  perfectly  apposite. 
The  worship  of  the  gods  of  Canaan  involved  the  prac- 
tice of  the  foulest  impurities  ;  and  by  her  revolt  from 
lahvah,  her  lord  and  husband,  according  to  the 
common  Semitic  conception  of  the  relation  between  a 
people  and  their  god,  Israel  became  a  harlot  in  fact  as 
well  as  in  figure.  The  land  was  polluted  with  her 
"whoredoms,"  />.,  her  worship  of  the  false  gods,  and 
her  practice  of  their  vile  rites  ;  and  with  her  "  evil,"  as 
instanced  above  (ii.  30,  35)  in  the  murder  of  those 
who  protested  against  these  things  (Num.  xxxv. 
33 ;  Ps.  cvi.  38).  As  a  punishment  for  these  grave 
offences,  the  showers  were  withJioIden,  and  the  spring 
rains  fell  not;  but  the  merciful  purpose  of  this  Divine 
chastisement  was  not  fulfilled ;  the  people  were  not 
stirred  to  penitence,  but  rather  hardened  in  their  sins  : 
but  thou  hadst  a  harlofs  forehead ;  thou  refusedst  to 
to  be  made  ashamed !  And  now  the  day  of  grace  is 
past,  and  repentance  comes  too  late.  Hast  thou  not 
but  now  called  unto  Me,  My  Father !  Friend  of  my 
vouth  wert  Thou  ?  Will  He  retain  His  wrath  for  ever  ? 
or  keep  it  without  end?  (vv.  3,  5).  The  reference  ap- 
pears to  be  to  the  external  reforms  accomplished  by 
the  young  king  Josiah  in  his  twelfth  year — the  3^ear 
previous  to  the  utterance  of  this  prophecy;  when, 
as  we  read  in  2  Chron.  xxxiv.  3,  "  He  began  to  purge 
Judah   and   Jerusalem    from  the  high  places,  and  the 


ii.  i-iii.  5.]    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT    109 

Asherim,  and  the  carven  images,  and  the  molten 
images."  To  all  appearance,  it  was  a  return  of  the 
nation  to  its  old  allegiance  ;  the  return  of  the  rebellious 
child  to  its  father,  of  the  erring  wife  to  the  husband  of 
her  youth.  By  those  two  sacred  names  which  in  her 
inexcusable  fickleness  and  ingratitude  she  had  lavished 
upon  stocks  and  stones,  Israel  now  seemed  to  be  in- 
voking the  relenting  compassion  of  her  alienated  God 
(ii.  27,  ii.  2).  But  apart  from  the  doubt  attaching 
to  the  reality  of  reformations  to  order,  carried  out  in 
obedience  to  a  royal  decree  ;  apart  from  the  question 
whether  outward  changes  so  easily  and  rapidly  accom- 
plished, in  accordance  with  the  will  of  an  absolute 
monarch,  were  accompanied  by  any  tokens  of  a  genuine 
national  repentance ;  the  sin  of  Israel  had  gone  too  far, 
and  been  persisted  in  too  long,  for  its  terrible  con- 
sequences to  be  averted.  Behold — it  is  the  closing 
sentence  of  the  address ;  a  sentence  fraught  with 
despair,  and  the  certainty  of  coming  ruin  ; — Behold^ 
thou  hast  planned  and  accomplished  the  evil  (ii.  33); 
and  thou  hast  prevailed  !  The  approaches  of  the  people 
are  met  by  the  assurance  that  their  own  plans  and 
doings,  rather  than  lahvah's  wrath,  are  the  direct 
cause  of  past  and  prospective  adversity ;  ill  doing  is 
the  mother  of  ill  fortune.  Israel  inferred  from  her 
troubles  that  God  was  angry  with  her;  and  she  is 
informed  by  His  prophet  that,  had  she  been  bent  on 
bringing  those  troubles  about,  she  could  not  have 
chosen  any  other  line  of  conduct  than  that  which  she 
had  actually  pursued.  The  term  "evils"  again  sug- 
gests both  the  false  and  impure  worships,  and  their 
calamitous  moral  consequences.  Against  the  will  of 
lahvah.  His  people  had  wrought  for  its  own  ruin,  and 
had  prevailed. 


no  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

And  now  let  us  take  a  farewell  look  at  the  discourse 
in  its  entirety.  Beginning  at  the  beginning,  the  dawn 
of  his  people's  life  as  a  nation,  the  young  prophet 
declares  that  in  her  early  days,  in  the  old  times  of 
simple  piety  and  the  uncorrupted  life  of  the  desert, 
Israel  had  been  true  to  her  God ;  and  her  devotion  to 
her  Divine  spouse  had  been  rewarded  by  guidance  and 
protection.  "  Israel  was  a  thing  consecrated  to  lahvah; 
whoever  eat  of  it  was  held  guilty,  and  evil  came  upon 
them"  (ii.  1-3).  This  happy  state  of  mutual  love  and 
trust  between  the  Lord  and  His  people  began  to  change 
with  the  great  change  in  outward  circumstances  involved 
in  their  conquest  of  Canaan  and  settlement  among  the 
aboriginal  inhabitants  as  the  ruling  race.  With  the 
lands  and  cities  of  the  conquered,  the  conquerors  soon 
learned  to  adopt  also  their  customs  of  worship,  and  the 
licentious  merriment  of  their  sacrifices  and  festivals. 
Gradually  they  lost  all  sense  of  any  radical  distinction 
between  the  God  of  Israel  and  the  local  deities  at  whose 
ancient  sanctuaries  they  now  worshipped  Him.  Soon 
they  forgot  their  debt  to  lahvah;  His  gracious  and  long- 
continued  guidance  in  the  Arabian  steppes,  and  the 
loving  care  which  had  established  them  in  the  goodly 
land  of  orchards  and  vineyards  and  cornnelds.  The 
priests  ceased  to  care  about  ascertaining  and  declaring 
His  will ;  the  princes  openly  broke  His  laws ;  and  the 
popular  prophets  spoke  in  the  name  of  the  popular 
Baals  (vv.  4-8).  There  was  something  peculiarly 
strange  and  startling  in  this  general  desertion  of  the 
national  God  and  Deliverer;  it  was  unparalleled  among 
the  surrounding  heathen  races.  1  .:y  were  failh^'ul  to 
gods  that  were  no  gods ;  Israel  actually  exchanged  her 
Glory,  the  living  source  of  all  her  strength  and  well- 
being,  for  a  useless,  helpless  idol.     Her  behaviour  was 


ii.  I -iii .  5 .]    THE  TR UST  IN  THE  SHAD OW  OF  EG  YPT. 


as  crazy  as  if  she  had  preferred  a  cistern,  all  cracks  and 
fissures,  that  could  not  possibly  hold  water,  to  a  never- 
failing  fountain  of  sweet  spring  water  (vv.  9-13).     The 
consequences  were  only  too  plain  to  such  as  had  eyes 
to   see.     Israel,    the   servant,    the   favoured    slave    of 
lahvah,  was  robbed  and  spoiled.      The    ''hons,"    the 
fierce  and  rapacious  warriors  of  Assyria  had  ravaged 
his   land,   and   ruined   his   cities;    while    Egypt    was 
proving  but  a  treacherous  friend,  pilfering  and  plun- 
dering on  the  borders  ot  Judah.     It  was  all  Israel's 
own  doing;    forsaking  his  God,  he  had  forfeited   the 
Divine  protection.     It  was  his  own  apostasy,  his  own 
frequent  and  flagrant  revolts   which   were  punishing 
him  thus.     Vain,  therefore,  utterly  vain  were  his  en- 
deavours to  find  deliverance  from  trouble  in  an  alliance 
with   the   great  heathen   powers   of  South  or   North 
(w.  14-19).      Rebellion  was   no  new  feature  in   the 
national  history.     No ;  for  of  old  the  people  had  broken 
the  yoke  of  lahvah,  and  burst  the  bonds  of  His  ordi- 
nances, and  said,  I  will  not  serve !  and  on  every  high 
hill,  and  under  every  evergreen  tree,  Israel  had  bowed 
down  to  the  Baalim  of  Canaan,  in  spiritual  adultery  from 
her  Divine  Lord  and  Husband.     The   change  was  a 
portent;  the  noble  vine-shoot  had  degenerated  into  a 
worthless  wilding  (vv.  20-21).     The  sin  of  Israel  was 
inveterate  and  ingrained ;  nothing  could  wash  out  the 
stain  of  it.     Denial  of  her  guilt  was  futile ;  the  dreadful 
rites  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom  witnessed  against  her. 
Her  passion  for  the  foreign  worships  was  as  insatiable 
and  headstrong  as  the  fierce  lust  of  the  camel  or  the 
wild   ass.     To  protests  and  warnings  her  sole  reply 
was:  "It  is  in  vain!  I  love  the  strangers,  and  them 
will  I  follow  I "     The  outcome  of  all  this  wilful  apostasy 
was  the  shame  of  defeat  and  disaster,  the  humihation 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 


of  disappointrr.ent,  when  the  helplessness  of  the  stocks 
and  stones,  which  had  supplanted  her  Heavenly  Father, 
was  demonstrated  by  the  course  of  events.  Then  she 
bethought  her  of  the  God  she  had  so  lightly  forsaken, 
only  to  hear  in  His  silence  a  bitterly  ironical  reference 
to  the  multitude  of  her  helpers,  the  gods  of  her  own 
creation.  The  national  reverses  failed  of  the  effect 
intended  in  the  counsels  of  Providence.  Her  sons  had 
fallen  in  battle ;  but  instead  of  repenting  of  her  evil 
w^ays,  she  slew  the  faithful  prophets  who  warned  her  of 
the  consequences  of  her  misdeeds  (vv.  20-30).  It  was 
the  crowning  sin;  the  cup  of  her  iniquity  was  full 
to  overflowing.  Indignant  at  the  memory  of  it,  the 
prophet  once  more  insists  that  the  national  crimes  are 
what  has  put  misfortune  on  the  track  of  the  nation; 
and  chiefly,  this  heinous  one  of  killing  the  messengers 
of  God  like  housebreakers  caught  in  the  act ;  and  then 
aggravating  their  guilt  by  self-justification,  and  by 
resorting  to  Egypt  for  that  help,  which  they  despaired 
of  obtaining  from  an  outraged  God.  All  such  negotia- 
tions, past  or  present,  were  doomed  to  failure  before- 
hand ;  the  Divine  sentence  had  gone  forth,  and  it  was 
idle  to  contend  against  it  (vv.  31-37).  Idle  also  it  was 
to  indulge  in  hopes  of  the  i-estoration  of  Divine  favour. 
Just  as  it  was  not  open  to  a  discarded  wife  to  return  to 
her  husband  after  living  with  another;  so  might  not 
Israel  be  received  back  into  her  former  position  of  the 
Bride  of  Heaven,  after  she  had  "  played  the  harlot  with 
many  lovers."  Doubtless  of  late  she  had  given  tokens 
of  remembering  her  forgotten  Lord,  calling  upon  the 
Father  who  had  been  the  guide  of  her  youth,  and 
deprecating  the  continuance  of  His  wrath.  But  the 
time  was  long  since  past,  when  it  was  possible  to  avert 
the  evil  consequences  of  her  misdoings.     She  had,  as 


li.  i-iii.5.]    THE  TRUST  IN  THE  SHADOW  OF  EGYPT,    113 

it  were,  steadily  purposed  and  wrought  out  her  own 
evils;  both  her  sins  and  her  sufferings  past  and  to 
come :  the  iron  sequence  could  not  be  broken ;  the  ruin 
she  had  courted  lay  before  her  in  the  near  future  :  she 
had  "prevailed."  All  efforts  such  as  she  was  now 
making  to  stave  it  off  were  like  a  deathbed  repentance ; 
in  the  nature  of  things,  they  could  not  annihilate  the 
past,  nor  undo  what  had  been  done,  nor  substitute  the 
fruit  of  holiness  for  the  fruit  of  sin,  the  reward  of  faith- 
fulness and  purity  for  the  wages  of  worldliness,  sensu- 
ality, and  forgetfulness  of  God. 

Thus  the  discourse  starts  with  impeachment,  and 
ends  with  irreversible  doom.  Its  tone  is  comminatory 
throughout ;  nowhere  do  we  hear,  as  in  other  prophecies, 
the  promise  of  pardon  in  return  for  penitence.  Such 
preaching  was  necessary,  if  the  nation  was  to  be 
brought  to  a  due  sense  of  its  evil ;  and  the  reformation 
of  the  eighteenth  of  Josiah,  which  was  undoubtedly 
accompanied  by  a  considerable  amount  of  genuine 
repentance  among  the  governing  classes,  was  in  all 
likelihood    furthered    by    this    and    similar    prophetic 


'  Perhaps,  too,  the  immediate  object  of  the  prophet  was  attained, 
which  was,  as  Ewald  thinks,  to  dissuade  the  people  from  alliance 
with  Psammitichus,  the  vigorous  monarch  who  was  then  reviving 
the  power  and  ambition  of  Egypt.  Jeremiah  dreaded  the  eflects  of 
Egyptian  influence  upon  the  religion  and  morals  of  Judah.  Ewald 
notes  the  significant  absence  of  all  reference  to  the  entmy  from  the 
north,  who  appears  in  all  the  later  pieces. 


III. 

ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH;  A    CONTRAST, 
Jeremiah  iii.  6-iv.  2. 

THE  first  address  of  our  prophet  was  throughout  of 
a  sombre  cast,  and  the  darkness  of  its  close  was 
not  relieved  by  a  single  ray  of  hope.  It  was  essentially 
a  comminatory  discourse,  the  purpose  of  it  being  to 
rouse  a  sinful  nation  to  the  sense  of  its  peril,  by  a 
faithful  picture  of  its  actual  condition,  which  was  so 
different  from  what  it  was  popularly  supposed  to  be. 
The  veil  is  torn  aside ;  the  real  relations  between  Israel 
and  his  God  are  exposed  to  view ;  and  it  is  seen  that 
the  inevitable  goal  of  persistence  in  the  course  which 
has  brought  partial  disasters  in  the  past,  is  certain 
destruction  in  the  imminent  future.  It  is  implied,  but 
not  said,  that  the  only  thing  that  can  save  the  nation 
is  a  complete  reversal  of  policies  hitherto  pursued,  in 
Church  and  State  and  private  life ;  and  it  is  apparently 
taken  for  granted  that  the  thing  implied  is  no  longer 
possible.  The  last  word  of  the  discourse  was  :  '*  Thou 
hast  purposed  and  performed  the  evils,  and  thou  hast 
conquered"  (iii.  5).  The  address  before  us  forms  a 
striking  contrast  to  this  dark  picture.  It  opens  a  door 
of  hope  for  the  penitent.  The  heart  of  the  prophet 
cannot  rest  in  the  thought  of  the  utter  rejection  of  his 
people;  the  harsh  and  dreary  announcement  that  his 


iii.6-iv2.]    ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH:  A   CONTRAST,  115 

people's  woes  are  self-caused  cannot  be  his  last  word. 
"  His  anger  was  only  love  provoked  to  distraction ; 
here  it  has  come  to  itself  again/'  and  holds  out  an 
offer  of  grace  first  to  that  part  of  the  whole  nation 
which  needs  it  most,  the  fallen  kingdom  of  Ephraim, 
and  then  to  the  entire  people.  The  all  Israel  of  the 
former  discourse  is  here  divided  into  its  two  sections, 
which  are  contrasted  with  each  other,  and  then  again 
considered  as  a  united  nation.  This  feature  distin- 
guishes the  piece  from  that  which  begins  chap.  iv.  3, 
and  which  is  addressed  to  "Judah  and  Jerusalem" 
rather  than  to  Israel  and  Judah,  like  the  one  before  us. 
An  outline  of  the  discourse  may  be  given  thus.  It  is 
shown  that  Judah  has  not  taken  warning  by  lahvah's 
rejection  of  the  sister  kingdom  (6-10);  and  that 
Ephraim  may  be  pronounced  less  guilty  than  Judah, 
seeing  that  she  had  witnessed  no  such  signal  example 
of  the  Divine  vengeance  on  hardened  apostasy.  She 
is,  therefore,  invited  to  repent  and  return  to  her 
alienated  God,  which  will  involve  a  return  from  exile 
to  her  own  land ;  and  the  promise  is  given  of  the 
reunion  of  the  two  peoples  in  a  restored  Theocracy, 
having  its  centre  in  Mount  Zion  (11-19).  All  Israel 
has  rebelled  against  God ;  but  the  prophet  hears  the 
cry  of  universal  penitence  and  supplication  ascending  to 
heaven ;  and  lahvah's  gracious  answer  of  acceptance 
(iii:  20-iv.  2). 

The  opening  section  depicts  the  sin  which  had 
brought  ruin  on  Israel,  and  Judah's  readiness  in  fol- 
lowing her  example,  and  refusal  to  take  warning  by 
her  fate.  This  twofold  sin  is  aggravated  by  an  in- 
sincere repentance.  And  lahvah  said  unto  rue,  in  the 
days  of  Josiah  the  king,  Sawest  thou  what  the  Turncoat 
or  Recreant  Israel  did?    she  would  go  up  every  high 


ii6  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

hillf  and  under  every  evergreen  tree,  and  play  the 
harlot  there.  And  meihought  that  after  doing  all  this 
she  would  return  to  Me;  but  she  returned  not ;  and  the 
Traitress,  her  sister  Judah  saw  it.  And  I^  saw  that 
when  for  the  very  reason  that  she,  the  Turncoat  Israel, 
had  conmiitted  adultery,  I  had  put  her  away,  and  given 
her  her  bill  of  divorce,  the  Traitress  Judah,  her  sister, 
was  not  afraid,  but  she  too  went  off^  and  played  the  harlot. 
And  so,  through  the  cry  (cf.  Gen.  iv.  lO,  xviii.  20  5^.) 
of  her  harlotry  (or  read  T\  for  ^p,  script,  defect,  through 
her  manifold  or  abound! r.g  harlotry)  she  polluted  the 
land  (flP.LJ^l  ver.  2),  in  tliat  she  commilted  adultery 
with  the  Stone  and  with  the  Stock.  And  yet  though 
she  was  involved  in  all  this  guilt  (lit.  and  even  in  all 
this.  Perhaps  the  sin  and  the  penalties  of  it  are 
identified ;  and  the  meaning  is :  And  yet  for  all  this 
liability :  cf.  Isa.  v.  25),  the  Traitress  Judah  returned 
not  unto  Me  with  all  her  heart  (with  a  whole  or  un- 
divided heart,  with  entire  sincerity  ^)  hut  in  falsehood 
saith  lalivah.  The  example  of  the  northern  kingdom 
is  represented  as  a  powerful  influence  for  evil  upon 
Judah.  This  was  only  natural ;  for  although  from  the 
point  of  view  of  religious  development  Judah  is  incom- 
parably the  more  important  of  the  sister  kingdoms ; 
the  exact  contrary  is  the  case  as  regards  political  power 
and  predominance.  Under  strong  kings  like  Omri  and 
Ahab,  or  again,  Jeroboam  II.,  Ephraim  was  able  to 
assert  itself  as  a  first-rate  power  among  the  surround- 


*  She  saw:  Pesh.  This  may  be  right.  And  the  Traitress,  her 
sister  Judah,  saiv  it :  yea,  saw  thai  even  because  the  Turncoat  Israel  had 
committed  adultery,  I  put  her  away  ....  Atidyet  the  Traitress  Judah, 
her  sister,  was  not  afraid,  etc, 

2  I  Kings  ii.  4,    nD.N!3—D 32^^33 


ii.6-iv.2.]    ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH:  A   CONTRAST.  117 

ing  principalities ;  and  in  the  case  of  Athaliah,  we  have 
a  conspicuous  instance  of  the  manner  in  which  Canaanite 
idolatry  might  be  propagated  from  Israel  to  Judah. 
The  prophet  declares  that  the  sin  of  Judah  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  fact  that  she  had  witnessed  the  ruin  of 
Israel,  and  yet  persisted  in  the  same  evil  courses  of 
which  that  ruin  was  the  result.  She  sinned  against 
light.  The  fall  of  Ephraim  had  verified  the  predictions 
of  her  prophets ;  yet  '^  she  was  not  afraid/'  but  went 
on  adding  to  the  score  of  her  own  offences,  and  polluting 
the  land  with  her  unfaithfulness  to  her  Divine  Spouse. 
The  idea  that  the  very  soil  of  her  country  was  defiled 
by  Judah's  idolatry  may  be  illustrated  by  reference  to 
the  well-known  words  of  Ps.  cvi.  38  :  "  They  shed 
innocent  blood,  even  the  blood  of  their  sons  and  their 
daughters  whom  they  sacrificed  unto  the  idols  of 
Canaan ;  and  the  land  was  defiled  with  the  bloodshed." 
We  may  also  remember  Elohim's  word  to  Cain  :  '*  The 
voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  is  crying  unto  Me  from  the 
ground!"  (Gen.  iv.  lo).  As  lahvah's  special  dwelling- 
place,  moreover,  the  land  of  Israel  was  holy;  and 
foreign  rites  desecrated  and  profaned  it,  and  made  it 
offensive  in  His  sight.  The  pollution  of  it  cried  to 
heaven  for  vengeance  on  those  who  had  caused  it.  To 
such  a  state  had  Judah  brought  her  own  land,  and  the 
very  city  of  the  sanctuary;  "and  yet  in  all  this" — 
amid  this  accumulation  of  sins  and  Habilities — she 
turned  not  to  her  Lord  with  her  whole  heart.  The 
reforms  set  on  foot  in  the  twelfth  year  of  Josiah  were 
but  superficial  and  half-hearted;  the  people  merely 
acquiesced  in  them,  at  the  dictation  of  the  court,  and 
gave  no  sign  of  any  inward  change  or  deep-wrought 
repentance.  The  semblance  without  the  reahty  of 
sorrow  for  sin  is  but  a  mockery  of  heaven,  and  a  heinous 


ii8  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

aggravation  of  guilt.  Hence  the  sin  of  Judah  was  of  a 
deeper  dye  than  that  which  had  destroyed  Israel.  And 
lahvah  said  unto  me,  The  Turncoat  or  Recreant  Israel 
hath  proven  herself  more  righteous  than  the  Traitress  Judah. 
Who  could  doubt  it,  considering  that  almost  all  the 
prophets  had  borne  their  witness  in  Judah ;  and  that, 
in  imitating  her  sister's  idolatry,  she  had  resolutely 
closed  her  eyes  to  the  light  of  truth  and  reason  ?  On 
this  ground,  that  Israel  has  sinned  less,  and  suffered 
more,  the  prophet  is  bidden  to  hold  out  to  her  the  hope 
of  Divine  mercy.  The  greatness  of  her  ruin,  as  well 
as  the  lapse  of  years  since  the  fatal  catastrophe,  might 
tend  to  diminish  in  the  prophet's  mind  the  impression 
of  her  guilt ;  and  his  patriotic  3^earning  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  banished  Ten  Tribes,  who,  after  all,  were  the 
near  kindred  of  Judah,  as  well  as  the  thought  that  they 
had  borne  their  punishment,  and  thus  atoned  for  their 
sin  (Isa.  xl.  2),  might  cooperate  with  the  desire  ot 
kindling  in  his  own  countr3'men  a  noble  rivalry  of 
repentance,  in  moving  the  prophet  to  obey  the  impulse 
which  urged  him  to  address  himself  to  Israel.  Go 
ihoUy  and  cry  these  words  northward  (toward  the  deso- 
late land  of  Ephraim),  and  say:  ReturUy  Turncoat  or 
Recreant  Israel,  saith  lahvah;  I  will  not  let  My  counten- 
ance fall  at  the  sight  of  you  (Ut.  against  you,  cf.  Gen 
i^-  S)t  fi^  ^  ^^  loving,  saith  lahvah,  I  keep  not 
anger  for  ever.  Only  recognise  thy  guilt,  that  thou 
hast  rebelled  against  lahvah  thy  God,  and  hast  scattered 
(or  lavished:  Ps.  cxii.  9)  thy  ways  to  the  strangers 
(hast  gone  now  in  this  direction,  now  in  that,  wor- 
shipping first  one  idol  and  then  another )  cf.  ii.  23 ; 
and  so,  as  it  were,  dividing  up  and  dispersing  thy 
devotion)  under  every  evergreen  tree;  but  My  voice 
ye  have    not    obeyed^   saith    lahvah.      The   invitation, 


ui.6-iv.2.]    ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH:  A    CONTRAST.  119 

'*  Return  Apostate  Israel !  " — '^^  nnU'D  nmtr^ — contains  a 
play  on  words,  which  seems  to  suggest  that  the  exile 
of  the  Ten  Tribes  was  voluntary,  or  self-imposed  ;  as  if, 
when  they  turned  their  backs  upon  their  true  God, 
they  had  deliberately  made  choice  of  the  inevitable 
consequence  of  that  rebellion,  and  made  up  their  minds 
to  abandon  their  native  land.  So  close  is  the  connexion, 
in  the  prophet's  view,  between  the  misfortunes  of  his 
people  and  their  sins. 

Return^  ye  apostate  children  (again  there  is  a  play  on 
^ords — D^33VJ' D"":!  U1C* — Turn  back,  ye  back-turning 
sons,  or  ye  sojis  that  turn  the  back  to  Me)  saith 
lahvah;  for  it  was  I  that  wedded  you  (ver.  14),  and 
am,  therefore,  your  proper  lord.  The  expression  is 
not  stranger  than  that  which  the  great  prophet  of  the 
Return  addresses  to  Zion  :  ''  Thy  sons  shall  marry 
thee."  But  perhaps  we  should  rather  compare  another 
passage  of  the  book  of  Isaiah,  where  it  is  said : 
"  lahvah,  our  God !  other  lords  beside  Thee  have  had 
dominion  over  us"  (-IJ-t^^?  Isa.  xxvi.  13),  and  render: 
For  it  is  I  that  will  be  your  lord;  or  perhaps.  For 
it  is  I  that  have  mastered  you,  and  put  down  your 
rebellion  by  chastisements ;  and  I  will  take  you,  one  of 
a  city  and  two  of  a  clan,  and  will  bring  you  to  Zion. 
As  a  **  city  "  is  elsewhere  spoken  of  as  a  "  thousand  " 
(Mic.  V.  i),  and  a  "thousand"  (rj'px)  is  synonymous 
with  a  '^  clan  "  (nnsD'D),  as  providing  a  thousand  warriors 
in  the  national  militia  ;  it  is  clear  that  the  promise  is 
that  one  or  two  representatives  of  each  township  in 
Israel  shall  be  restored  from  exile  to  the  land  of  their 
fathers.     In  other  words,  we  have  here  Isaiah's  doc- 


» As  if  "Turn  back,  back-turning  Israel!"  i.e.  Thou  that  turnedst 
thy  back  upon  lahvah,  and,  therefore,  upon  His  pleasant  land. 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


trine  of  the  remnant,  which  he  calls  a  "tenth"  (Isa.  vi. 
1 3),  and  of  which  he  declared  that  ''  the  survivors  of 
the  house  of  Judah  that  remain,  shall  again  take  root 
downwards,  and  bear  fruit  upwards"  (Isa.  xxxvii.  31). 
And  as  Zion  is  the  goal  of  the  returning  exiles,  we 
may  see,  as  doubtless  the  prophets  saw,  a  kind  of 
anticipation  and  foreshadowing  of  the  future  in  the 
few  scattered  members  of  the  northern  tribes  of  Asher, 
Manasseh  and  Zebulun,  who  "  humbled  themselves," 
and  accepted  Hezekiah's  invitation  to  the  passover 
(2  Chron.  xxx,  ii,  18);  and,  again,  in  the  authority 
which  Josiah  is  said  to  have  exercised  in  the  land  of  the 
Ten  Tribes  (2  Chron.  xxxiv.  6;  cf.  9).  We  must  bear 
in  mind  that  the  prophets  do  not  contemplate  the 
restoration  of  every  individual  of  the  entire  nation  ;  but 
rather  the  return  of  a  chosen  few,  a  kind  of  "  firstfruits  " 
of  Israel,  who  are  to  be  a  ''holy  seed"  (Isa.  vi.  13), 
from  which  the  power  of  the  Supreme  will  again  build 
up  the  entire  people  according  to  its  ancient  divisions. 
So  the  holy  Apostle  in  the  Revelation  hears  that  twelve 
thousand  of  each  tribe  are  sealed  as  servants  of  God 
(Rev.  vii.). 

The  happy  time  of  restoration  will  also  be  a  time  of 
reunion.  The  estranged  tribes  will  return  to  their  old 
allegiance.  This  is  implied  by  the  promise,  "  I  will 
bring  you  to  Zion,"  and  by  that  of  the  next  verse : 
And  I  will  give  you  shepherds  after  My  own  heart ; 
and  they  shall  shepherd  you  with  knowledge  and  wis- 
dom. Obviously,  kings  of  the  house  of  David  are 
meant ;  the  good  shepherds  of  the  future  are  contrasted 
with  the  *'  rebellious "  ones  of  the  past  (ii.  8).  It  is 
the  promise  of  Isaiah  (i.  26)  :  "  And  I  will  restore  thy 
judges  as  at  the  first,  and  thy  counsellors  as  at  the 
beginning."     In  this  connexion,  we  may  recall  the  fact 


iii.6-iv.2.]    ISRAEL   AND  JUDAH:  A    CONTRAST.  121 

that  the  original  scliism  in  Israel  was  brought  about 
by  the  folly  of  evil  shepherds.  The  coming  King 
will  resemble  not  Rchoboam  but  David.  Nor  is  this 
all ;  for  //  shall  come  to  pass,  when  ye  multiply  and 
become  frit  iff ul  in  the  land,  in  those  days,  saith  lahvah, 
men  shall  not  say  any  niorey  The  ark  of  the  covenant 
of  lahvah,  (or,  as  LXX.,  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel ; 
nor  shall  it  (the  ark)  come  to  mind;  nor  shall  men 
remember  it,  nor  miss  it;  nor  shall  it  be  made  aity 
more  (pointing  TVC'y^^  although  the  verb  may  be  im- 
personal. I  do  not  understand  why  Hitzig  asserts 
'*  Man  wird  keine  andere  machen  (Movers)  oder ;  sie 
wird  nicht  wieder  gemacht  (Evv.,  Graf)  als  ware  nicht 
von  der  geschichtlichen  Lade  die  Rede,  sondern  von 
ihr  begrifflich,  konnen  die  Worte  nicht  bedeuten."  But 
cf.  Exod.  XXV.  10 ;  Gen.  vi.  14 ;  where  the  same  verb  n'J'i; 
is  used.  Perhaps,  however,  the  rendering  of  C.  B. 
Michaelis,  which  he  prefers,  is  more  in  accordance  with 
what  precedes  :  nor  shall  all  that  be  done  any  more. 
Gen.  xxix.  26,  xli.  34.  But  "ipD  does  not  mean  nach- 
forschen :  cf.  i  Sam.  xx.  6,  xxv.  15).  In  that  time 
men  will  call  Jenisalem  the  throne  of  lahvah;  and  all 
the  nations  will  gather  into  it  (Gen.  i.  9),  for  the  name 
of  lahvah  [at  Jerusalem  :  LXX.  om.]  ;  and  they  (the 
heathen)  will  no  longer  follow  the  stubbornness  of  their 
evil  heart  (vii.  24;  Deut.  xxix.  19). 

In  the  new  Theocracy,  the  true  kingdom  of  God,  the 
ancient  symbol  cf  the  Divine  presence  will  be  forgotten 
in  the  realization  of  that  presence.  The  institution  of 
the  New  Covenant  will  be  characterized  by  an  immediate 
and  personal  knowledge  of  lahvah  in  the  hearts  of  all 
His  people  (xxxi.  31  sq.).  The  small  object  in  which 
past  generations  had  loved  to  recognise  the  earthly 
throne  of  the  God  of  Israel,  will  be  replaced  by  Jerusalem 


122  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

itself,  the  Holy  City,  not  merely  of  Judah,  nor  of  Judah 
and  Israel,  but  of  the  world.  Thither  will  all  the  nations 
resort  ^'  to  the  name  of  lahvah ; "  ceasing  henceforth 
"  to  follow  the  hardness  (or  callousness)  of  their  own 
evil  heart."  That  the  more  degraded  kinds  of  heathen- 
ism have  a  hardening  effect  upon  the  heart ;  and  that 
the  cruel  and  impure  worships  of  Canaan  especially 
tended  to  blunt  the  finer  sensibilities,  to  enfeeble  the 
natural  instincts  of  humanity  and  justice,  and  to  confuse 
the  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  is  beyond  question.  Only 
a  heart  rendered  callous  by  custom,  and  stubbornly 
deaf  to  the  pleadings  of  natural  pity,  could  find  genuine 
pleasure  in  the  merciless  rites  of  the  Molech- worship; 
and  they  who  ceased  to  follow  these  inhuman  supersti- 
tions, and  sought  light  and  guidance  from  the  God  of 
Israel,  might  well  be  said  to  have  ceased  "  to  walk  after 
the  hardness  of  their  own  evil  heart."  ^  The  more 
repulsive  features  of  heathenism  chime  in  too  well  with 
the  worst  and  most  savage  impulses  of  our  nature ;  they 
exhibit  too  close  a  conformity  with  the  suggestions  and 
demands  of  selfish  appetite ;  they  humour  and  encourage 
the  darkest  passions  far  too  directly  and  decidedly,  to 
allow  us  to  regard  as  plausible  any  theory  of  their 
origin  and  permanence  which  does  not  recognise  in 
them  at  once  a  cause  and  an  effect  of  human  depravity 
(cf.  Rom.  i.). 

The  repulsiveness  of  much  that  was  associated  with 
the  heathenism  with  which  they  were  best  acquainted, 
did  not  hinder  the  prophets  of  Israel  from  taking  a 
deep  spiritual  interest  in  those  who  practised  and  were 
enslaved  by  it.  Indeed,  what  has  been  called  the 
universalism  of  the  Hebrew  seers — their  emancipation 

•  Cf.  also  the  Arabic  '^.  ^  pravus,  "*  *  pravitas,  with  the  Hebrew 
term.  V^  ^ 


ni.6-iv2.]    ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH:  A    CONTRAST.  123 

in  this  respect  from  all  local  and  national  limits  and 
prejudices — is  one  of  the  clearest  proofs  of  their  divine 
mission.     Jeremiah   only   reiterates   what   Micah    and 
Isaiah  had  preached   before  him  ;  that  ''  in  the  latter 
days  the  mountain  of  lahvah's  House  shall  be  estab- 
lished as  the  chief  of  mountains,  and  shall  be  exalted 
above  the  hills;  and  all  the  nations  will  flow  unto  it  " 
(Isa.  ii.  2).     In  ch.  xvi.  195^.  our  prophet  thus  expresses 
himself  upon  the  same  topic.     ''  lahvah,  my  strength 
and  my  stronghold,  and  my  refuge  in  the  day  of  dis- 
tress !  unto  Thee  shall  nations  come  from  the  ends  of 
the   earth,    and    shall    say  :  Our   forefathers  inherited 
nought  but  a  lie,  vanity,  and  things  among  which  is  no 
helper.     Shall  a  man  make  him  gods,  when  they  are  no 
gods  ?  "     How  largely  this  particular  aspiration  of  the 
prophets  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  B.C.  has 
since  been  fulfilled  in  the  course  of  the  ages  is  a  matter 
of  history.     The  religion  which  was  theirs  has,  in  the 
new  shape  given  it  by  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles, 
become  the  religion  of  one  heathen  people  after  another, 
until  at  this  day  it  is  the  faith  professed,  not  only  in 
the  land  of  its  origin,  but  by  the  leading  nations  of  the 
world.     So  mighty  a  fulfilment  of  hopes,  which  at  the 
time  of  their  first  conception  and  utterance  could  only 
be  regarded  as  the  dreams  of  enthusiastic  visionaries, 
justifies  those  who  behold  and  reaUze  it  in  the  joyful 
beUef  that  the  progress  of  true  religion  has  not  been 
maintained  for  six  and  twenty  centuries  to  be  arrested 
now ;  and  that  these  old-world  aspirations  are  destined 
to  receive  a  fulness  of  illustration  in  the  triumphs  of 
the  future,  in  the  light  of  which  the  brightest  glories  of 
the  past  will  pale  and  fade  away. 

The  prophet  does  not  say,  with  a  prophet  of  the  New 
Covenant,  that  all  Israel  shall  he  saved  (Rom.  xi.  26). 


124  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

We  may,  however,  fairly  interpret  the  latter  of  the  true 
Israel,  the  remnant  according  to  the  election  of  grace ^ 
rather  than  of  Israel  according  to  the  fleshy  and  so  both 
will  be  at  one,  and  both  at  variance  with  the  un spiritual 
doctrine  of  the  Talmud,  that  All  Israel,  irrespective  of 
moral  qualifications,  will  have  a  portion  in  the  world  to 
comey  on  account  of  the  surpassing  merits  of  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  even  of  Abraham  alone  (cf.  St. 
Matt.  iii.  9;  St.  John  viii.  33). 

The  reference  to  4;he  ark  of  the  covenant  in  the 
sixteenth  verse  is  remarkable  upon  several  grounds. 
This  sacred  symbol  is  not  mentioned  among  the  spoils 
which  Nebuzaradan  (Nabu-zir-iddin)  took  from  the 
temple  (Iii.  17  sqq.^ ;  nor  is  it  specified  among  the  trea- 
sures appropriated  by  Nebuchadrezzar  at  the  surrender 
of  Jehoiachin.  The  words  of  Jeremiah  prove  that  it 
cannot  be  included  among  '^  the  vessels  of  gold  "  v;hich 
the  Babylonian  conqueror  "  cut  in  pieces "  (2  Kings 
xxiv.  13).  We  learn  two  facts  about  the  ark  from  the 
present  passage  :  (i)  that  it  no  longer  existed  in  the 
days  of  the  prophet ;  (2)  that  people  remembered  it 
with  regret,  though  they  did  not  venture  to  replace  the 
lost  original  by  a  new  substitute.  It  may  well  have 
been  destroyed  by  Manasseh,  the  king  who  did  his 
utmost  to  abolish  the  religion  of  lahvah.  However 
that  may  be,  the  point  of  the  prophet's  allusion  consists 
in  the  thought  that  in  the  glorious  times  of  Messianic 
rule  the  idea  of  holiness  will  cease  to  be  attached  to 
things,  for  it  will  be  realized  in  persons ;  the  symbol 
will  become  obsolete,  and  its  name  and  memory  will 
disappear  from  the  minds  and  affections  of  men,  because 
the  fact  symbolized  will  be  universally  felt  and  per- 
ceived to  be  a  present  and  self-evident  truth.  In  that 
great  epoch  of  Israel's  reconciliation,  all   nations   will 


iii.6-iv.2.]    ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH:  A    CONTRAST.  125 

recognise  in  Jerusalem  the  throne  of  lahvah^  the  centre 
of  light  and  source  of  spiritual  truth  ;  the  Holy  City  of 
the  world.  Is  it  the  earthly  or  the  heavenly  Jerusalem 
that  is  meant  ?  It  would  seem,  the  former  only  was 
present  to  the  consciousness  of  the  prophet,  for  he 
concludes  his  beautiful  interlude  of  promise  with  the 
words  :  In  those  days  will  the  house  of  Judah  walk  beside 
the  house  of  Israel;  and  they  wid  come  together  from  the 
land  of  the  North  [and  from  all  the  lands :  LXX  add. 
of.  xvi.  1 5]  unto  the  land  that  I  caused  your  fathers  to 
possess.  Like  Isaiah  (xi.  12  sqq.)  and  other  prophets 
his  predecessors,  Jeremiah  forecasts  for  the  whole 
repentant  and  united  nation  a  reinstatement  in  their 
ancient  temporal  rights,  in  the  pleasant  land  from 
which  they  had  been  so  cruelly  banished  for  so  many 
weary  years. 

"The  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life."  If, 
when  we  look  at  the  whole  course  of  subsequent  events, 
when  we  review  the  history  of  the  Return  and  of  the 
narrow  religious  commonwealth  which  was  at  last, 
after  many  bitter  struggles,  established  on  mount  Sion ; 
when  we  consider  the  form  which  the  religion  of  lahvah 
assumed  in  the  hands  of  the  priestly  caste,  and  the 
half-rehgious,  half-pohtical  sects,  whose  intrigues  and 
conflicts  for  power  constitute  almost  all  w^e  know  of 
their  period;  when  we  reflect  upon  the  character  of 
the  entire  post-exilic  age  down  to  the  time  of  the  birth 
of  Christ,  with  its  worldly  ideals,  its  fierce  fanati- 
cisms, its  superstitious  trust  in  rites  and  ceremonies; 
if,  when  we  look  at  all  this,  we  hesitate  to  claim  that 
the  prophetic  visions  of  a  great  restoration  found 
fulfilment  in  the  erection  of  this  petty  state,  this  paltry 
edifice,  upon  the  ruins  of  David's  capital ;  shall  we  lay 
ourselves  open  to  the  accusation  that  we  recognise  no 


126  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

element   of  truth   in   the   glorious   aspirations  of  the 
prophets  ?     I  think  not. 

After  all,  it  is  clear  from  the  entire  context  that 
these  hopes  of  a  golden  time  to  come  are  not  inde- 
pendent of  the  attitude  of  the  people  towards  lahvah. 
They  will  only  be  realized,  if  the  nation  shall  truly 
repent  of  the  past,  and  turn  to  Him  with  the  whole 
heart.  The  expressions  "at  that  time,"  '4n  those 
days"  (vv.  17,  18),  are  only  conditionally  deter- 
minate ;  they  mean  the  happy  time  of  Israel's  repentance, 
^f  such  a  time  should  ever  come.  From  this  glimpse  of 
glorious  possibiHties,  the  prophet  turns  abruptly  to  the 
dark  page  of  Israel's  actual  histor3^  He  has,  so  to 
speak,  portrayed  in  characters  of  light  the  development 
as  it  might  have  been ;  he  now  depicts  the  course  it 
actually  followed.  He  restates  lahvah's  original  claim 
upon  Israel's  grateful  devotion  (ii.  2),  putting  these 
words  into  the  mouth  of  the  Divine  Speaker  :  And  I 
indeed  thought,  How  will  I  set  thee  among  the  sons  (of  the 
Divine  household),  and  give  thee  a  lovely  land,  a  heritage 
the  fairest  among  the  nations !  And  methought,  thou 
wouldst  call  Me  *  My  Father,'  and  woiddst  not  turn  hack 
from  following  Me.  lahvah  had  at  the  outset  adopted 
Israel,  and  called  him  from  the  status  of  a  groaning 
bondsman  to  the  dignity  of  a  son  and  heir.  When  Israel 
was  a  child,  He  had  loved  him,  and  called  His  son  out 
of  Egypt  (Hos.  xi.  i),  to  ^ve  him  a  place  and  a  heritage 
among  nations.  It  was  lahvah,  indeed,  who  originally 
assigned  their  holdings  to  all  the  nations,  and  separated 
the  various  tribes  of  mankind,  fixing  the  territories  of 
peoples,  according  to  the  number  of  the  sons  of  God  {Y)&\xt. 
xxxii.  8  Sept.).  If  He  had  brought  up  Israel  from 
Egypt,  He  had  also  brought  up  the  Philistines  from 
Caphtor,  and  the  Aram  cans   from   Kir  (Amos  ix.   7). 


iii.6-iv.2.]    ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH:  A    CONTRAST.  127 

But  He  had  adopted  Israel  in  a  more  special  sense, 
which  may  be  expressed  in  St.  Paul's  words,  who 
makes  it  the  chief  advantage  of  Israel  above  the 
nations  that  unto  them  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God. 
(Rom.  iii.  2).  What  nobler  distinction  could  have  been 
conferred  upon  any  race  of  men  than  that  they  should 
have  been  thus  chosen,  as  Israel  actually  was  chosen, 
not  merely  in  the  aspirations  of  prophets,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact  in  the  divinely-directed  evolution  of 
human  history,  to  become  the  heralds  of  a  higher 
truth,  the  hierophants  of  spiritual  knowledge,  the 
universally  recognised  interpreters  of  God  ?  Such  a 
caUing  might  have  been  expected  to  elicit  a  response 
of  the  warmest  gratitude,  the  most  enthusiastic  loyalty 
and  unswerving  devotion.  But  Israel  as  a  nation  did 
not  rise  to  the  level  of  these  lofty  prophetic  views  of 
its  vocation  ;  it  knew  itself  to  be  the  people  of  lahvah, 
but  it  failed  to  reahze  the  moral  significance  of  that 
privilege,  and  the  moral  and  spiritual  responsibilities 
which  it  involved.  It  failed  to  adore  lahvah  as  the 
Father,  in  the  only  proper  and  acceptable  sense  of  that 
honourable  name,  the  sense  which  restricts  its  appli- 
cation to  one  sole  Being.  Heathenism  is  blind  and 
irrational  as  well  as  profane  and  sinful ;  and  so  it  does 
not  scruple  to  confer  such  absolutely  individual  titles 
as  "  God  "  and  "  Father  "  upon  a  multitude  of  imaginary 
powers. 

Methought  thou  woitldst  call  Me  ^  My  Father^  and 
wouldst  not  turn  back  from  following  Me.  But{Zeph.  iii. 
7)  a  woman  is  false  to  her  fere;  so  were  ye  false  to  Me, 
O  house  of  Israel,  saith  lahvah.  The  Divine  intention 
toward  Israel,  God's  gracious  design  for  her  everlasting 
good,  God's  expectation  of  a  return  for  His  favour,  and 
how   that   design  was  thwarted  so  far  as  man  could 


128  THE  PROPHECIES   OF  JEREMIAH 

thwart  it,  and  that  expectation  disappointed  hitherto; 
such  is  the  import  of  the  last  two  verses  (19,  20). 
Speaking  in  the  name  of  God,  Jeremiah  represents 
Israel's  past  as  it  appears  to  God.  He  now  proceeds 
to  shew  dramatically,  or  as  in  a  picture,  how  the 
expectation  may  yet  be  fulfilled,  and  the  design 
realized.  Having  exposed  the  national  guilt,  he 
supposes  his  remonstrance  to  have  done  its  work,  and 
he  overhears  the  penitent  people  pouring  out  its  heart 
before  God.  Then  a  kind  of  dialogue  ensues  between 
the  Deity  and  His  suppliants.  Hark!  upon  the  bare 
hills  is  heard  the  weeping  of  the  supplications  of  the 
sons  of  Israel^  that  they  perverted  their  way,  forgot 
lahvah  their  God.  The  treeless  hill-tops  had  been  the 
scene  of  heathen  orgies  miscalled  worship.  There  the 
rites  of  Canaan  performed  by  Israelites  had  insulted 
the  God  of  heaven  (vv.  2  and  6).  Now  the  very 
places  which  witnessed  the  sin,  witness  the  national 
remorse  and  confession.  (The  '  high-places '  are  not 
condemned  even  by  Jeremiah  as  places  of  worship, 
but  only  as  places  of  heathen  and  illicit  worships. 
The  solitude  and  quiet  and  purer  air  of  the  hill-tops, 
their  unobstructed  view  of  heaven  and  suggestive 
nearness  thereto,  have  always  made  them  natural 
sanctuaries  both  for  public  rites  and  private  prayer  and 
meditation  :  cf.  2  Sam.  xv.  32  ;  and  especially  St.  Luke 
vi.  12. 

In  this  closing  section  of  the  piece  (iii.  19 — iv.  2) 
'  Israel '  means  not  the  entire  people,  but  the  northern 
kingdom  only,  which  is  spoken  of  separately  also  in  iii. 
6-18,  with  the  object  of  throwing  into  higher  relief  the 
heinousness  of  Judah's  guilt.  Israel — the  northern 
kingdom — was  less  guilty  than  Judah,  for  she  had  no 
warning  example,  no  beacon-light  upon  her  path,  such 


iii.6-iv.2.]    ISRAEL  AND  /UDAH:  A   CONTRAST, 


129 


as  her  own  fall  afforded  to  the  southern  kingdom ;  and 
therefore  the  Divine  compassion  is  more  likely  to  be 
extended   to   her,    even   after   a  century   of  ruin  and 
banishment,    than    to   her    callous,    impenitent    sister. 
Whether  at  the  time  Jeremiah  vs^as  in  communication 
with  survivors  of  the  northern  Exile,  who  were  faithful 
to  the  God  of  their  fathers,  and  looked  wistfully  toward 
Jerusalem  as  the  centre  of  the  best  traditions  and  the 
sole  hope  of  Israelite  nationality,  cannot  now  be  deter- 
mined.    The   thing   is   not    unlikely,    considering    the 
interest    which    the    prophet    afterwards    took    in    the 
Judean  exiles  who  were  taken  to  Babylon  with  Jehoiachin 
(chap,  xxix.)  and  his  active  correspondence  with  their 
leaders.     We    may    also    remember    that    *' divers    of 
Asher  and  Manasseh  and  Zebulun  humbled  themselves  " 
and  came  to   keep  passover   with   king   Hezekiah   at 
Jerusalem.     It  cannot,  certainly,  be  supposed,  with  any 
show  of  reason,  that  the  Assyrians  either  carried  away 
the   entire   population   of   the   northern   kingdom,    or 
exterminated  all  whom  they  did  not  carry  away.     The 
words  of  the  Chronicler  who  speaks  of  "  a  remnant  .  .  . 
escaped  out  of  the  hand  of  the  kings  of  Assyria,"  are 
themselves  perfectly  agreeable  to  reason  and  the  nature 
of  the  case,  apart  from  the  consideration  that  he  had 
special  historical  sources  at  his  command    (2    Chron. 
XXX.  6,   11).      We  know  that  in   the  Maccabean   and 
Roman  wars  the  rocky  fastnesses  of  the  country  were 
a  refuge  to  numbers  of  the  people,  and  the  history  of 
David  shews  that  this  had  been  the  case   from    time 
immemorial  (cf.  Judg.  vi.  2).     Doubtless  in  this  way 
not  a  few  survived   the  Assyrian  invasions    and    the 
destruction  of  Samaria  (b.c.  721).     But  to  return    to 
the  text.     After  the  confession  of  the  nation  that  they 
\.^.-w^  perverted  their  way  (that  is,  their  mode  of  worship, 

9 


I30  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

by  adoring  visible  symbols  of  lahvah,  and  associating 
with  Him  as  His  compeers  a  multitude  of  imaginary 
gods,  especially  the  local  Baalim,  ii.  23,  and  Ashtaroth), 
the  prophet  hears  another  voice,  a  voice  of  Divine 
invitation  and  gracious  promise,  responsive  to  peni- 
tence and  prayer :  Return^  ye  apostate  sons,  let  Me 
heal  your  apostasies  I  or  If  ye  return^  ye  apostate  sons,  I 
will  heal  your  apostasies  !  It  is  an  echo  of  the  ten- 
derness of  an  older  prophet  (Hos.  xiv.  I,  4).  And 
the  answer  of  the  penitents  quickly  follows :  Behold 
us,  we  are  come  unto  Thee,  for  Thou  art  lahvah  our 
God.  The  voice  that  now  calls  us,  we  know  by  its 
tender  tones  of  entreaty,  compassion  and  love  to  be  the 
voice  of  lahvah  our  own  God ;  not  the  voice  of  sensual 
Chemosh,  tempting  to  guilty  pleasures  and  foul  im- 
purities, not  the  harsh  cry  of  a  cruel  Molech,  calling 
for  savage  rites  of  pitiless  bloodshed.  Thou,  lahvah — 
not  these  nor  their  fellows — art  our  true  and  only  God. 
Surely f  in  vain  (for  nought,  bootlessly,  I  Sam.  xxv.  21 ; 
chap.  V.  2,  xvi.  19)  on  the  hills  did  we  raise  a  din  (lit. 
^hath  one  raised';  reading  n'lrnp  and  D^^n);  surely, 
in  lahvah  our  God  is  the  safety  of  Israel  I  The  Hebrew 
cannot  be  original  as  it  now  stands  in  the  Masoretic 
text,  for  it  is  ungrammatical.  The  changes  I  have 
made  will  be  seen  to  be  very  slight,  and  the  sense 
obtained  is  much  the  same  as  Ewald's  Surely  in  vain 
from  the  hills  is  the  noise,  from  the  mountains  (where 
every  reader  must  feel  that  from  the  mountains  is  a 
forcible-feeble  addition  which  adds  nothing  to  the  sense). 
We  might  also  perhaps  detach  the  mem  from  the  term 
for  '  hills/  and  connect  it  with  the  preceding  word,  thus 
getting  the  meaning :  Surely,  for  Lies  are  the  hills,  the 
uproar  of  the  mountains  !  (D^in  H^D.  •  •  •  Ci^lTf  f) )  ^^at 
is  to  say,  the  high-places  are  devoted  to  delusive  non- 


iii.6-iv.2.]     ISRAEL   AND  JUDAH:   A    CONTRAST.  131 

entities,  who  can  do  nothing  in  return  for  the  wild 
orgiastic  worship  bestowed  on  them  ;  a  thought  which 
contrasts  very  well  with  the  second  half  of  the  verse : 
Surely^  in  lahvah  our  God  is  the  safety  of  Israel ! 

The  confession  continues  :  And  as  for  the  Shame — 
the  shameful  idol,  the  Baal  whose  worship  involved 
shameful  rites  (chap.  xi.  13;  Hos.  ix.  10),  and  who  put 
his  worshippers  to  shame,  by  disappointing  them  of 
help  in  the  hour  of  their  need  (ii.  8,  26,  27) — as  for  the 
Shame — in  contrast  with  lahvah,  the  Safety  of  Israel, 
who  gives  all,  and  requires  little  or  nothing  of  this  kind 
in  return — it  devoured  the  labour  of  our  fathers  from  our 
youth,  their  flocks  and  their  herds,  their  sons  and  their 
daughters.  The  allusion  is  to  the  insatiable  greed  of 
the  idol-priests,  and  the  lavish  expense  of  perpetually 
recurring  feasts  and  sacrifices,  which  constituted  a 
serious  drain  upon  the  resources  of  a  pastoral  and 
agricultural  community ;  and  to  the  bloody  rites  which, 
not  content  with  animal  offerings,  demanded  human 
victims  for  the  altars  of  an  appalling  superstition.  Let 
us  lie  down  in  our  shame,  and  let  our  infamy  cover  us  ! 
for  toward  lahvah  our  God  we  trespassed,  we  and  our 
fathers,  from  our  youth  even  unto  this  day,  and  obeyed 
not  the  voice  of  lahvah  our  God.  A  more  complete 
acknowledgment  of  sin  could  hardly  be  conceived ;  no 
palliating  circumstances  are  alleged,  no  excuses  devised, 
of  the  kind  with  which  men  usually  seek  to  soothe 
a  disturbed  conscience.  The  strong  seductions  of 
Canaanite  worship,  the  temptation  to  join  in  the  joyful 
merriment  of  idol-festivals,  the  invitation  of  friends 
and  neighbours,  the  contagion  of  example, — all  these 
extenuating  facts  must  have  been  at  least  as  well  known 
to  the  prophet  as  to  modern  critics,  but  he  is  expres- 
sively silent  on  the  point  of  mitigating  circumstances  in 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  /EREMIAH 


the  case  of  a  nation  to  whom  such  light  and  guidance 
had  come,  as  came  to  Israel.  No,  he  could  discern  no 
ground  of  hope  for  his  people  except  in  a  full  and 
unreserved  admission  of  guilt,  an  agony  of  shame  and 
contrition  before  God,  a  heartfelt  recognition  of  the 
truth  that  from  the  outset  of  their  national  existence 
to  the  passing  day  they  had  continually  sinned  against 
lahvah  their  God  and  resisted  His  holy  Will. 

Finally,  to  this  cry  of  penitents  humbled  in  the  dust, 
and  owning  that  they  have  no  refuge  from  the  conse- 
quences of  their  sin  but  in  the  Divine  Mercy,  comes 
the  firm  yet  loving  answer :  If  thou  wilt  return,  O  Israel, 
saith  lahvahj  unto  Me  wilt  return,  and  if  thou  wilt  put 
away  thine  Abominations  [out  of  thy  mouth  and,  LXX.] 
out  of  My  Presence,  and  sway  not  to  and  fro  (i  Kings 
xiv.  15),  but  wilt  swear  'By  the  Life  of  lahvah / '  in 
good  faith,  justice,  and  righteousness )  then  shall  the 
nations  bless  themselves  by  Him,  and  in  Him  shall  they 
glory  (iv.  I,  2).  Such  is  the  close  of  this  ideal  dia- 
logue between  God  and  man.  It  is  promised  that  if 
the  nation's  repentance  be  sincere — not  half-hearted 
like  that  of  Judah  (iii.  lo  ;  2  Chron.  xxxiv.  33) — and  if 
the  fact  be  dcir:  nstrated  by  a  resolute  and  unwavering 
rejection  of  idul-worship,  evinced  by  the  disuse  of  their 
names  in  oaths,  and  the  expulsion  of  their  symbols 
from  the  Presence,  that  is,  out  of  the  sanctuaries  and 
domain  of  lahvah,  and  by  adhering  to  the  Name  of 
the  God  of  Israel  in  oaths  and  compacts  of  all  kinds, 
and  by  a  scrupulous  loyalty  to  such  engagements 
(Ps.  XV.  4;  Deut  X.  20;  Isa.  xlviii.  i);  then  the 
ancient  oracle  of  blessing  will  be  fulfilled,  and  Israel 
will  become  a  proverb  of  felicity,  the  pride  and  boast 
of  mankind,  the  glorious  ideal  of  perfect  virtue  and 
perfect  happiness  (Gen.  xii.   3;  Isa.  Ixv.    16).     Then, 


iii.6-iv.2.]    ISRAEL  AND  JUDAH:  A    CONTRAST,  133 

all  the  nations  will  gather  together  unto  Jerusalem  for  the 
Name  of  lahvah  (iii.  17);  they  will  recognise  in  the 
religion  of  lahvah  the  answer  to  their  highest  longings 
and  spiritual  necessities,  and  will  take  Israel  for  what 
lahvah  intended  him  to  be,  their  example  and  priest 
and  prophet. 

Jeremiah  could  hardly  have  chosen  a  more  extreme 
instance  for  pointing  the  lesson  he  had  to  teach  than 
the  long-since  ruined  and  depopulated  kingdom  of  the 
Ten  Tribes.  Hopeless  as  their  actual  condition  must 
have  seemed  at  the  time,  he  assures  his  own  country- 
men in  Judah  and  Jerusalem  that  even  yet,  if  only  the 
moral  requirements  of  the  case  were  fulfilled,  and  the 
heart  of  the  poor  remnant  and  of  the  survivors  in 
banishment  aroused  to  a  genuine  and  permanent  repent- 
ance, the  Divine  promises  would  be  accomplished  in  a 
people  whose  sun  had  apparently  set  in  darkness  for 
ever.  And  so  he  passes  on  to  address  his  own  people 
directly  in  tones  of  warning,  reproof,  and  menace  of 
approaching  wrath  (iv.  3-vi.  30.) 


IV. 

THE  SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE  OF  GOD, 
Jeremiah  iv.  3-vi.  30. 

IF  we  would  understand  what  is  written  here  and 
elsewhere  in  the  pages  of  prophecy,  two  things 
would  seem  to  be  requisite.  We  must  prepare  ourselves 
with  some  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  of  the  time, 
and  we  must  form  some  general  conception  of  the  ideas 
and  aims  of  the  inspired  writer,  both  in  themselves,  and 
in  their  relation  to  passing  events.  Of  the  former,  a 
partial  and  fragmentary  knowledge  may  suffice,  pro- 
vided it  be  true  so  far  as  it  goes  ;  minuteness  of  detail  is 
not  necessary  to  general  accuracy.  Of  the  latter,  a  very 
full  and  complete  conception  may  be  gathered  from  a 
careful  study  of  the  prophetic  discourses. 

The  chapters  before  us  were  obviously  composed  in 
the  presence  of  a  grave  national  danger ;  and  what 
that  danger  was  is  not  left  uncertain,  as  the  discourse 
proceeds.  An  invasion  of  the  country  appeared  to  be 
imminent ;  the  rumour  of  approaching  war  had  already 
made  itself  heard  in  the  capital ;  and  all  classes  were 
terror-stricken  at  the  tidings. 

As  usual  in  such  times  of  peril,  the  country  people 
were  already  abandoning  the  un walled  towns  and 
villages,  to  seek  refuge  in  the  strong  places  of  the  land, 
and,  above  all,  in  Jerusalem,  which  was   at  once  the 


iv.3-vi.30.]  SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE  OF  GOD.       135 

capital  and  the  principal  fortress  of  the  kingdom.  The 
evil  news  had  spread  far  and  near ;  the  trumpet-signal 
of  alarm  was  heard  everywhere;  the  cry  was,  Assemble 
yourselves,  and  let  us  go  into  the  Jenced  cities  I  (iv.  5). 

The  ground  of  this  universal  terror  is  thus  declared  : 
The  lion  is  gone  up  from  his  thicket^  and  the  destroyer 
of  nations  is  on  his  way,  is  gone  forth  from  his  place; 
to  make  thy  land  a  desolation,  that  thy  cities  be  laid 
waste,  without  inhabitant  (ver.  7).  A  hot  blast  over 
the  bare  hills  in  the  wilderness,  on  the  road  to  the 
daughter  of  my  people,  not  for  winnowing,  nor  for  cleans^ 
ing;  a  fidl  blast  from  those  hills  cometh  at  My  beck 
(ver.  11).  Lo,  like  clouds  he  cometh  up,  and,  like 
the  whirlwind,  his  chariots;  swifter  than  vultures  are 
his  horses.  Woe  unto  us  I  We  are  verily  destroyed 
(ver.  13).  Besiegers  (lit.  watchmen,  Isa.  i.  8)  are 
coming  from  the  remotest  land,  and  they  utter  their 
ery  against  the  cities  of  fudah.  Like  keepers  of  a 
field  become  they  against  her  on  every  side  (vv. 
16-17).  At  the  same  time,  the  invasion  is  still  only 
a  matter  of  report ;  the  blow  has  not  yet  fallen  upon 
the  trembling  people.  Behold,  I  am  about  to  bring 
upon  you  a  nation  from  ajar,  O  house  of  Israel,  saith 
lahvah;  an  inexhaustible  nation  it  is,  a  nation  of  old 
time  it  is,  a  nation  whose  tongue  thou  knowest  not, 
nor  understandest  (lit.  hearest)  what  it  speaketh.  Its 
quiver  is  like  an  opened  grave;  they  all  are  heroes. 
And  it  will  eat  up  thine  harvest  and  thy  bread,  which 
thy  sons  and  thy  daughters  should  eat;  it  will  eat  up 
thy  flock  and  thine  herd;  it  will  eat  up  thy  vine  and 
thy  figtree ;  it  will  shatter  thine  embattled  cities,  wherein 
thou  art  trusting,  with  the  sword  (y.  15-17).  Thus  hath 
lahvah  said :  Lo,  a  people  cometh  from  a  northern  land, 
and  a  great  nation  is  awaking  from  the  uttermost  parts  of 


136  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREM.AH. 

earth.  Bow  and  lance  iJicy  hold;  savage  it  is,  and 
titiless ;  the  sound  of  them  is  like  the  sea,  when  it 
roareth;  and  on  horses  they  ride;  he  is  arrayed  as  a  man 
for  battle,  against  thee,  O  daughter  of  Zion.  We  have 
heard  the  report  of  him;  our  hands  droop;  anguish 
hath  ta'cen  hold  of  us,  throes,  like  hers  that  travail eth 
(vi.  22  sq).  With  the  graphic  force  of  a  keen  observer, 
who  is  also  a  poet;  the  priest  of  Anathoth  has  thus 
depicted  for  all  time  the  collapse  of  terror  which  befel 
his  contemporaries,  on  the  rumoured  approach  of  the 
Scythians  in  the  reign  of  Josiah.  And  his  lyric  fervour 
carries  him  beyond  this ;  it  enables  him  to  see  with  the 
utmost  distinctness  the  havoc  wrought  by  these  hordes 
of  savages  ;  the  surprise  of  cities,  the  looting  of  houses, 
the  flight  of  citizens  to  the  woods  and  the  hills  at  the 
approach  of  the  enemy ;  the  desertion  of  the  country 
towns,  the  devastation  of  fields  and  vineyards,  confusion 
and  desolation  everywhere,  as  though  primeval  chaos 
had  returned ;  and  he  tells  it  all  with  the  passion  and 
intensity  of  one  who  is  relating  an  actual  personal 
experience.  In  my  vitals,  my  vitals,  I  quake,  in  the 
ivalls  of  my  heart!  My  heart  is  murmuring  to  me; 
I  cannot  hold  my  peace;  for  my  soid  is  listening  to  the 
trumpet-blast,  the  alarm  of  war  I  Ruin  on  ruin  is 
cried,  for  all  the  land  is  ravaged;  suddenly  are  my  tents 
ravaged,  my  pavilions  in  a  moment  I  How  long  must 
I  see  the  standards,  must  I  listen  to  the  trumpet-blast  ? 
(iv.  19-21).  /  look  at  the  earth,  aud  lo,  His  chaos: 
at  the  heavens,  and  their  light  is  no  more,  I  look 
at  the  mountains,  and  lo,  they  rock,  and  all  the  hills 
sway  to  and  fro.  I  look,  and  lo,  man  is  no  more,  and 
the  birds  of  the  air  are  gone,  I  look,  and  lo,  the  fruit- 
ful soil  is  wilderness,  and  all  the  cities  of  it  are  over- 
thrown  (iv.    23-26).      At   the   noise   of  horseman   and 


iv.3-vi.30.]  SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE  OF  GOD.      137 

archer  all  the  city  is  in  flight!  They  are  gone  into  the 
thickets  J  and  tip  the  rocks  they  have  clomb :  all  the 
city  is  deserted  (ver.  29).  His  eye  follows  the  course 
of  devastation  until  it  reaches  Jerusalem :  Jerusalem, 
the  proud,  luxurious  capital,  now  isolated  on  her  hills, 
bereft  of  all  her  daughter  cities,  abandoned,  even 
betrayed,  by  her  foreign  allies.  And  thou,  that  art 
doomed  to  destruction,  what  canst  thou  do?  Though 
thou  clothe  thee  in  scarlet,  though  thou  deck  thee  with 
decking  of  gold,  though  thou  broaden  thine  eyes  with 
henna,  in  vain  dost  tiiou  make  thyself  fair ;  the  lovers 
have  scorned  thee,  thy  life  are  they  seeking}  The 
'* lovers" — the  false  foreigners — have  turned  against 
her  in  the  time  of  her  need ;  and  the  strange  gods, 
with  whom  she  dallied  in  the  days  of  prosperity,  can 
bring  her  no  help.  And  now,  while  she  witnesses,  but 
cannot  avert,  the  slaughter  of  her  children,  her  shrieks 
ring  in  the  prophet's  ear:  A  cry,  as  of  one  in  travail, 
do  I  hear;  pangs  as  of  her  that  beareth  her  firstborn  ; 
the  cry  of  the  daughter  of  Zion,  that  panteth,  that 
spreadeth  out  her  hands  :  Woe^s  me  !  my  soul  swooneth 
for  the  slayers  I  (w.  30,  31). 

Even  the  strong  walls  of  Jerusalem  are  no  sure 
defence ;  there  is  no  safety  but  in  flight.  Remove  your 
goods,  ye  sons  of  Benjamin^  from  within  Jerusalem  ! 
And  in  Tekoah  (as  if  Blaston  or  Blowick  or  Trumping- 
ton)  blow  a  trumpet-blast,  and  upon  Beth-hakkerem 
raise  a   signal  (or  beacon)  !  for  evil  hath  looked  forth 

*  The  modern  singer  has  well  caught  the  echo  of  this  ancient  strain, 

"  Wilt  thou  cover  thine  hair  with  gold,  and  with  silver  thy  feet  ? 
Hast  thou  taken  the  purple  to  fold  thee,  and  made  thy  mouth  sweet? 
Behold,  when  thy  face  is  made  bare,  he  that  loved  thee  shall  hate  ; 
Thy  face  shall  be  no  more  fair  at  the  fall  of  thy  fate." 

Atalanta  in  Calydon. 


138  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

from  the  north,  and  mighty  ruin  (vi.  I,  2).  The  two 
towns  mark  the  route  of  the  fugitives,  making  for  the 
wilderness  of  the  south ;  and  the  trumpet-call,  and  the 
beacon-light,  muster  the  scattered  companies  at  these 
rallying  points  or  haltingplaces.  The  beautiful  and 
the  pampered  one  will  I  destroy — the  daughter  of  Sion. 
(Perhaps  :  The  beautiful  and  the  pampered  woman  art 
thou  like,  O  daughter  of  Sion  I  3rd  fem.  sing,  in  -i.) 
To  her  come  the  shepherds  and  their  flocks ;  they  pitch 
the  tents  upon  her  round  about;  they  graze  each  at 
his  own  side  {i.e.  on  the  ground  nearest  him).  The 
figure  changes,  with  lyric  abruptness,  from  the  fair 
woman,  enervated  by  luxury  (ver.  2)  to  the  fair 
pasture-land,  on  which  the  nomad  shepherds  encamp, 
whose  flocks  soon  eat  the  herbage  down,  and  leave 
the  soil  stripped  bare  (ver.  3);  and  then,  again,  to 
an  army  beleaguering  the  fated  city,  whose  cries  ot 
mutual  cheer,  and  of  impatience  at  all  delay,  the 
poet-prophet  hears  and  rehearses.  Hallow  ye  waf 
against  her!  Arise  ye,  let  us  go  up  (to  the  assault) 
at  noontide  I  Unhappy  we !  the  day  hath  turned;  the 
shadows  of  eventide  begin  to  lengthen  !  Arise  ye,  ana 
let  us    go   up   in    the   night,   to   destroy    her   palaces! 

(vv.  4,  5). 

As  a  fine  example  of  poetical  expression,  the  dis- 
course obviously  has  its  own  intrinsic  value.  The 
author's  power  to  sketch  with  a  few  bold  strokes  the 
magical  effect  of  a  disquieting  rumour ;  the  vivid  force 
with  which  he  realizes  the  possibilities  of  ravage  and 
ruin  which  are  wrapped  up  in  those  vague,  uncertain 
tidings ;  the  pathos  and  passion  of  his  lament  over  his 
£tricken  country,  stricken  as  yet  to  his  perception  only; 
the  tenderness  of  feeling ;  the  subtle  sweetness  of 
language  ;  the  variety  of  metaphor ;  the  light  of  imagi- 


iv.3-vi.30.]  SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE  OF  GOD.      139 

nation  illuminating  the  whole  with  its  indefinable 
charm ;  all  these  characteristics  indicate  the  presence 
and  power  of  a  master-singer.  But  with  Jeremiah,  as 
with  his  predecessors,  the  poetic  expression  of  feeling 
is  far  from  being  an  end  in  itself  He  writes  with  a 
purpose  to  which  all  the  endowmients  of  his  gifted 
nature  are  freely  and  resolutely  subordinated.  He 
values  his  powers  as  a  poet  and  orator  solely  as  instru- 
ments which  conduce  to  an  efficient  utterance  of  the 
will  of  lahvah.  He  is  hardly  conscious  of  these  gifts 
as  such.  He  exists  to  "  declare  in  the  house  of  Jacob 
and  to  publish  in  Judah  "  the  word  of  the  Lord. 

It  is  in  this  capacity  that  he  now  comes  forward,  and 
addresses  his  terrified  countrymen,  in  terms  not  calcul- 
ated to  allay  their  fears  with  soothing  suggestions  of 
comfort  and  reassurance,  but  rather  deliberately  chosen 
with  a  view  to  heightening  those  fears,  and  deepening 
them  to  a  sense  of  approaching  judgment.  For,  after  all, 
it  is  not  the  rumoured  coming  of  the  Scythian  hordes 
that  impels  him  to  break  silence.  It  is  his  consuming 
sense  of  the  moral  degeneracy,  the  spiritual  degradation 
of  his  countrymen,  which  flames  forth  into  burning 
utterance.  Whom  shall  I  address  and  adjure,  that  they 
may  hear?  Lo,  their  ear  is  uncircunicised,  and  they 
cannot  hearken ;  to,  the  word  of  lahvah  hath  become  to 
them  a  reproach;  they  delight  not  therein.  And  of  the 
fury  of  lahvah  I  am  full;  I  am  weary  of  holding  it  in. 
Then  the  other  voice  in  his  heart  answers  :  Pour 
thou  it  forth  upon  the  child  in  the  street,  and  upon  the 
company  of  young  men  together!  (vi.  10,  11).  It  is 
the  righteous  indignation  of  an  offended  God  that 
wells  up  from  his  heart,  and  overflows  at  his  lips, 
and  cries  woe,  irremediable  woe,  upon  the  land  he 
loves  better  than  his  own  life. 


140  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

He  begins  with  encouragement  and  persuasion,  but 
his  tone  soon  changes  to  denunciation  and  despair 
(iv.  3  5^.).  Thus  hath  lahvah  said  to  the  men  of  Judah 
and  to  Jerusalem^  Break  you  up  the  fallows,  and  sow 
not  into  thorns  !  Circumcise  yourselves  to  lahvah,  and 
remove  the  foreskins  of  your  heart,  ye  men  of  Judah, 
and  ye  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  I  lest  My  fury  come 
forth  like  fire,  and  burn  with  none  to  quench  it,  because 
of  the  evil  of  your  doings.  Clothed  with  the  Spirit, 
as  Semitic  speech  might  express  it,  his  whole  soul 
enveloped  in  a  garment  of  heavenly  light — a  magical 
garment  whose  virtues  impart  new  force  as  well  as 
new  light — the  prophet  sees  straight  to  the  heart  of 
things,  and  estimates  with  God-given  certainty  the  real 
state  of  his  people,  and  the  moral  worth  of  their  seeming 
repentance.  The  first  measures  of  Josiah's  reforming 
zeal  have  been  inaugurated ;  at  least  within  the  limits 
of  the  capital,  idolatry  in  its  coarser  and  more  repellent 
forms  has  been  suppressed ;  there  is  a  shew  of  return 
to  the  God  of  Israel.  But  the  popular  heart  is  still 
wedded  to  the  old  sanctuaries,  and  the  old  sensuous 
rites  of  Canaan ;  and,  worse  than  this,  the  priests  and 
prophets,  whose  centre  of  influence  was  the  one  great 
sanctuary  of  the  Book  of  the  Law,  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  have  simply  taken  advantage  of  the  religious 
reformation  for  their  own  purposes  of  selfish  aggran- 
disement. From  the  youngest  to  the  oldest  of  them,  they 
all  ply  the  trade  of  greed;  and  from  prophet  to  priest^ 
they  all  practice  lying.  And  they  have  repaired  the 
ruin  of  [the  daughter']  of  my  people  in  light  fashion, 
saying.  It  is  well,  it  is  well !  though  it  be  not  well  (vi. 
13,  14).  The  doctrine  of  the  one  legitimate  sanc- 
tuary, taught  with  disinterested  earnestness  by  the 
disciples  of  Isaiah,  and  enforced  by  that  logic  of  events 


iv.3-vi.30.]  SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE  OF  GOD.      141 

which  had  demonstrated  the  feebleness  of. the  local 
holy  places  before  the  Assyrian  destroyers,  had  now 
come  to  be  recognised  as  a  convenient  buttress  of  the 
private  gains  of  the  Jerusalem  priesthood  and  the  venal 
prophets  who  supported  their  authority.  The  strong 
current  of  national  reform  had  been  utilized  for  the 
driving  of  their  private  machinery ;  and  the  sole  out- 
come of  the  self-denying  efforts  and  sufferings  of  the 
past  appeared  to  be  the  enrichment  of  these  grasping 
and  unscrupulous  worldhngs  who  sat,  Hke  an  incubus, 
upon  the  heart  of  the  national  church.  So  long  as 
money  flowed  steadily  into  their  coffers,  they  were 
eager  enough  to  reassure  the  doubting,  and  to  dispel 
all  misgivings  by  their  deceitful  oracle  that  all  was 
well.  So  long  as  the  sacrifices,  the  principal  source  of 
the  priestly  revenue,  abounded,  and  the  festivals  ran 
their  yearly  round,  they  affirmed  that  lahweh  was 
satisfied,  and  that  no  harm  could  befal  the  people  of 
His  care.  This  trading  in  things  Divine,  to  the  utter 
neglect  of  the  higher  obligations  ot  the  moral  law, 
was  simply  appalling  to  the  sensitive  conscience  of  the 
true  prophet  of  that  degenerate  age.  A  strange  ana 
a  startling  thing  it  is,  that  is  come  to  pass  in  the  land. 
The  prophets,  they  have  prophesied  in  the  Lie,  and  the 
priests,  they  tyrannise  under  their  direction;  and  My 
people,  they  love  it  thus ;  and  what  will  ye  do  for  the 
issue  thereof?  (v.  30,  31.)  For  such  facts  must 
have  an  issue;  and  the  present  moral  and  spiritual 
ruin  of  the  nation  points  with  certainty  to  impending 
ruin  in  the  material  and  political  sphere.  The  two 
things  go  together ;  you  cannot  have  a  decline  of  faith^ 
a  decay  of  true  religion,  and  permanent  outward  pros- 
perity ;  that  issue  is  incompatible  with  the  eternal 
laws  which  regulate  the  life  and  progress  of  humanity. 


t42  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


One  sits  in  the  heavens,  over  all  things  from  the 
beginning,  to  whom  all  stated  worship  is  a  hideous 
offence  when  accompanied  by  hypocrisy  and  impurity 
and  fraud  and  violence  in  the  ordinary  relations  of  life. 
What  good  to  me  is  incense  that  conteth  from  Sheba^ 
and  the  choice  calamus  from  a  far  country  ?  your  burnt 
offerings  (holocausts)  are  not  acceptable^  and  your 
sacrifices  are  not  sweet  unto  Me.  Instead  of  purchas- 
ing safety,  they  will  ensure  perdition  :  Therefore  thus 
hath  lahvah  said :  Lo,  I  am  about  to  lay  for  this  people 
siumblingblockSf  and  they  shall  stumble  upon  them,  fathers 
and  sons  together,  a  neighbour  and  his  friend;  and  they 
shall  perish  (vi.  20  5^.). 

In  the  early  days  of  reform,  indeed,  Jeremiah  himself 
appears  to  have  shared  in  the  sanguine  views  associated 
with  a  revival  of  suspended  orthodoxy.  The  tidings 
of  imminent  danger  were  a  surprise  to  him,  as  to  the 
zealous  worshippers  who  thronged  the  courts  of  the 
temple.  So  then,  after  all,  ^'  the  burning  anger  of 
lahvah  was  not  turned  away  "  by  the  outward  tokens 
of  penitence,  by  the  lavish  gifts  of  devotion  ;  this  unex- 
pected and  terrifying  rumour  was  a  call  for  the  resump- 
tion of  the  garb  of  mourning  and  for  the  renewal  of 
those  public  fasts  which  had  marked  the  initial  stages 
of  reformation  (iv.  8).  The  astonishment  and  the  dis- 
appointment of  the  man  assert  themselves  against 
the  inspiration  of  the  prophet,  when,  contemplating  the 
helpless  bewilderment  of  kings  and  princes,  and  the 
stupefaction  of  priests  and  prophets  in  face  of  the 
national  calamities,  he  breaks  out  into  remonstrance 
with  God.  And  I  said,  Alas,  O  Lord  lahvah  !  of  a 
truth,  Thou  hast  utterly  beguiled  this  people  and  Jeru- 
salem, saying,  It  shall  be  well  with  you;  whereas  the 
sword  will  reach   to   the  life.     The    allusion  is  to  the 


iv.3-vi.3o.]  SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE  OF  GOD. 


H3 


promises  contained  in  the  Book  of  the  Law,  the  read- 
ing of  which  had  so  powerfully  conduced  to  the  move- 
ment  for  reform.     That  book   had  been   the   text  of 
the   prophet-preachers,   who  were  most  active  in  that 
work ;  and  the  influence  of  its  ideas  and  language  upon 
Jeremiah  himself  is  apparent  in  all  his  early  discourses. 
The  prophet's  faith,  however,  was  too  deeply  rooted 
to  be  more  than  momentarily  shaken ;  and  it  soon  told 
him  that  the  evil  tidings  were  evidence  not  of  unfaith- 
fulness or  caprice  in  lahvah,  but  of  the  hypocrisy  and 
corruption  of  Israel.     With  this  conviction  upon  him, 
he  implores  the  populace  of  the  capital  to  substitute  an 
inward  and  real  for  an  outward  and  delusive  purifica- 
tion.    Break  up  the  fallows  I     Do  not  dream  that  any 
adequate   reformation    can    be   superinduced  upon  the 
mere   surface   of  life:    Sow   not  among  thorns  I     Do 
not  for  one  moment  believe  that  the  word  of  God  can 
take  root  and  bear  fruit  in  the  hard  soil  of  a  heart  that 
desires  only  to  be  secured  in  the  possession  of  present 
enjoyments,  in  immunity  for  self-indulgence,  covetous- 
ness,  and  oppression  of  the  poor.      Wash  thine  heart 
from   wickedness,   O  Jerusalem!     that  thou    mayst    be 
saved.     How   long  shall    the    schemings    of   thy  folly 
lodge   within    thee?     For    hark!     one    declareth  from 
Dan,  and  proclaimeth  folly  from  the  lulls  of  Ephraim 
(iv.  14  5^.).     The  ''folly"  {^awen)  is  the  foolish  han- 
kering after  the  gods  which  are  nothing  in  the  world 
but  a  reflexion   of  the    diseased  fancy  of  their   wor- 
shippers;   for   it  is  always   true    that  man  makes  his 
god  in  his  own  image,  when  he  does  make  him,  and 
does  not  receive  the  knowledge  of  him  by  revelation. 
It  was  a  folly  inveterate  and,  as  it  would  seem,  here- 
ditary in  Israel,  going  back  to  the  times  of  the  Judges, 
and  recalling  the  story  of  Micah  the  Ephraimite  and  the 


144  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

Danites  who  stole  his  images.  That  ancient  sin  still 
cried  to  heaven  for  vengeance ;  for  the  apostatizing 
tendency,  which  it  exemplified,  was  still  active  in  the 
heart  of  Israel.*  The  nation  had  "rebelled  against"  the 
Lord,  for  it  was  foolish  and  had  never  really  known 
Him ;  the  people  were  silly  children,  and  lacked  insight ; 
skilled  only  in  doing  wrong,  and  ignorant  of  the  way 
to  do  right  (iv.  22).  Like  the  things  they  worshipped, 
they  had  eyes,  but  saw  not ;  they  had  ears,  but  heard 
not.  Enslaved  to  the  empty  terrors  of  their  own  imag- 
inations, they,  who  cowered  before  dumb  idols,  stood 
untrembling  in  the  awful  presence  of  Him  whose  laws 
restrained  the  ocean  within  due  limits,  and  upon  whose 
sovereign  will  the  fall  of  the  rain  and  increase  of  the 
field  depended  (v.  21-24).  The  popular  blindness  to 
the  claims  of  the  true  religion,  to  the  inalienable  rights 
of  the  God  of  Israel,  involved  a  corresponding  and 
ever-increasing  blindness  to  the  claims  of  universal 
morality,  to  the  rights  of  man.  Competent  observers 
have  often  called  attention  to  the  remarkable  influence 
exercised  by  the  lower  forms  of  heathenism  in  blunting 
the  moral  sense  ;  and  this  influence  was  fully  illustrated 
in  the  case  of  Jeremiah's  contemporaries.  So  complete, 
so  universal  was  the  national  decline  that  it  seemed 
impossible  to  find  one  good  man  within  the  bounds 
of  the  capital.  Every  aim  in  life  found  illustration  in 
those  gay,  crowded  streets,  in  the  bazaars,  in  the 
palaces,  in  the  places  by  the  gate  where  law  was 
administered,  except  the  aim  of  just  and  righteous  and 

*  The  second  ''aiven,  however,  probably  means  "trouble,"  "calamity," 
as  in  Hab.  iii.  7.  The  Sept.  renders  Tcbvoq,  and  this  agrees  with  the 
mention  of  Dan  in  viii.  16.  As  Ewald  puts  it,  "from  the  north  of 
Palestine  the  misery  that  is  coming  from  the  further  north  is  already 
being  proclaimed  to  all  the  nations  in  the  south  (vi.  18). " 


iv.3-vi.30.]    SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE  OF  GOD,      145 

merciful  dealing  with  one's  neighbour.  God  was  ignored 
or  misconceived  of,  and  therefore  man  was  wronged 
and  oppressed.  Perjur}^,  even  in  the  Name  of  the  God 
of  Israel,  whose  eyes  regard  faithfulness  and  sincerity, 
and  whose  favour  is  not  to  be  won  by  professions  and 
presents  ;  a  self-hardening  against  both  Divine  chas- 
tisement and  prophetic  admonition ;  a  fatal  inclination 
to  the  seductions  of  Canaanite  worship  and  the  viola- 
tions of  the  moral  law,  which  that  worship  permitted 
and  even  encouraged  as  pleasing  to  the  gods ;  these 
vices  characterized  the  entire  population  of  Jerusalem 
in  that  dark  period.  Run  ye  to  and  fro  in  the  streets 
of  Jerusalem f  and  see  now,  and  know,  and  seek  ye  in 
the  broad  places  thereof,  if  ye  can  find  a  man,  if  indeed 
there  be  one  that  doeth  justice,  that  seeketh  sincerity; 
that  I  may  pardon  her.  And  if  they  say.  By  the  life 
of  lahvah  !  even  so  they  swear  falsely.  lahvah,  are  not 
thine  eyes  toward  sincerity  ?  Thou  smotest  them,  attd  they 
trembled  not;  Thou  consumedst  them,  they  refused  to  receive 
instruction ;  they  made  their  faces  harder  than  a  rock, 
they  refused  to  repent.  And  for  me,  I  said  (me  thought), 
These  are  but  poor  folk;  they  behave  foolishly,  because 
they  know  not  the  way  of  lahvah,  the  justice  (ver.  i)  of 
their  God :  let  me  betake  myself  to  the  great,  and  speak 
with  them  ;  for  they  at  least  know  the  way  of  lahvah,  the 
justice  of  their  God:  but  these  with  one  consent  had  broken 
the  yoke,  had  burst  the  bonds  in  sunder  (v.  1-5), 

Then,  as  now,  the  debasement  of  the  standard  of 
Hfe  among  the  ruling  classes  was  a  far  more  threatening 
symptom  of  danger  to  the  commonwealth  than  laxity 
of  principle  among  the  masses,  who  had  never  enjoyed 
the  higher  knowledge  and  more  thorough  training  which 
wealth  and  rank,  as  a  matter  of  course,  confer.  If  the 
crew  turn  drunken  and   mutinous,  the  ship  is  in  un- 

10 


i46  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

questionable  peril ;  but  if  they  who  have  the  guidance 
of  the  vessel  in  their  hands,  follow  the  vices  of  those 
whom  they  should  command  and  control,  wreck  and 
ruin  are  assured. 

The  profligacy  allowed  by  heathenism,  against  which 
the  prophets  cried  in  vain,  is  forcibly  depicted  in  the 
words  :  Why  should  I  pardon  thee  ?  Thy  sons  have 
forsaken  Me,  and  have  sworn  by  them  that  are  no 
gods :  though  I  had  bound  them  (to  Me)  by  oath^ 
they  committed  (spiritual)  adtdtery,  and  into  the  house 
of  the  Fornicatress  (the  idol's  temple,  where  the  harlot 
priestess  sat  for  hire)  they  wotdd  flock.  Stallions 
roaming  at  large  were  they;  neighing  each  to  his 
neighboui^s  wife.  Shall  I  not  punish  such  offences, 
saith  lahvah;  and  shall  not  My  soul  avenge  herself 
on  such  a  nation  as  this?  The  cynical  contempt  of 
justice,  the  fraud  and  violence  of  those  who  were  in 
haste  to  become  rich,  are  set  forth  in  the  following : 
Among  My  people  are  found  godless  men;  one  watcheth, 
as  birdcatchers  lurk;  they  have  set  the  trap,  they  catch 
men.  Like  a  cage  filled  with  birds,  so  are  their  houses 
filled  with  fraud :  therefore  they  are  become  great,  ana 
have  amassed  wealth.  They  are  become  fat,  they  are 
sleek ;  also  they  pass  over  (Isa.  xl.  27)  cases  (Ex.  xxii.  9, 
xxiv.  14 ;  cf.  also  i  Sam.  x.  2)  of  ivickedness — neglect 
to  fitdge  heinous  crimes;  the  cause  they  judge  not,  the 
cause  of  the  fatherless,  to  make  it  succeed;  and  the  right 
of  the  needy  they  vindicate  not  (v.  26-28). 

She  is  the  city  doomed  to  be  punished/  she  is  alt 
oppression  within.  As  a  spring  poureth  forth  its  waters, 
so  she  poureth  forth  her  wickedness;  violence  and 
oppression   resound    in   her;    before   Me  continually  is 

•  With  a  different  point :  "  When  I  had  fed  them  to  the  full  "  (cf 
Hos.  xiii-  6). 


iv.3-vi.30.]  SCYTHIANS  AS  THE  SCOURGE  OF  GOD.      147 

sickness  and  wounds  (vi.  6,  7).  There  would  seem  to 
be  no  hope  for  such  a  people  and  such  a  city.  The 
prophet,  indeed,  cannot  forget  the  claims  of  kindred, 
the  thousand  ties  of  blood  and  feeling  that  bind  him 
to  this  perverse  and  sinful  nation.  Thrice,  even  in 
this  dark  forecast  of  destruction,  he  mitigates  severity 
with  the  promise,  yet  ivill  I  not  make  a  full  end.  The 
door  is  still  left  open,  on  the  chance  that  some  at 
least  may  be  won  to  penitence.  But  the  chance  was 
small.  The  difficulty  was,  and  the  prophet's  yearn- 
ing tenderness  towards  his  people  could  not  blind 
him  to  the  fact,  that  all  the  lessons  of  God's  providence 
were  lost  upon  this  reprobate  race  :  They  have  belied 
the  Lordf  and  said,  it  is  not  He ;  neither  shall  evil 
come  upon  us;  neither  shall  we  see  sivord  and  famine. 
The  prophets,  they  insisted,  were  wrong  both  in  the 
significance  which  they  attributed  to  occasional  calami- 
ties, and  in  the  disasters,  which  they  announced  as 
imminent :  The  prophets  will  become  wind,  and  the 
Word  of  God  is  not  in  them ;  so  will  it  turn  out  with 
them.  It  was,  therefore,  wholly  futile  to  appeal  to 
their  better  judgment  against  themselves  :  Thus  said 
lahvah,  Stop  on  the  ways,  and  consider,  and  ask  after 
the  eternal  paths,  where  is  the  good  way,  and  walk 
therein,  and  find  rest  for  your  soul :  and  they  said.  We 
will  not  walk  therein.  And  I  will  set  over  you  watch- 
men (the  prophets) ;  hearken  ye  to  the  call  of  the 
trumpet !  (the  warning  note  of  prophecy)  and  they  said 
We  will  not  hearken.  From  such  wilful  hardness 
and  impenitence,  disdaining  correction  and  despising 
reproof,  God  appeals  to  the  heathen  themselves,  and 
to  the  dumb  earth,  to  attest  the  justice  of  His  sentence 
of  destruction  against  this  people  :  Therefore,  hear, 
O  ye   nations,    and  know,   and  testify   what  is  among 


14S  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  [EREMIAH. 

them  !  Hear,  O  earth  !  Lo^  I  am  about  to  bring  evil 
upon  this  people,  the  fruit  of  their  own  devisings; 
for  unto  My  words  they  have  not  hearkened,  and  as 
for  Mine  instruction,  they  have  rejected  it.  Their  doom 
was  inevitable,  for  it  was  the  natural  and  necessary 
consequence  of  their  own  doings :  Thine  own  way  and 
thine  Own  deeds  have  brought  about  these  evils  for  thee ; 
this  is  thine  own  evil;  verily,  it  is  bitter,  verily,  it  reacheth 
unto  thine  heart.  The  discourse  ends  with  a  despairing 
glance  at  the  moral  reprobation  of  Israel.  An  assayer 
did  I  make  thee  among  My  people,  a  refiner  (reading 
mecdref,  Mai,  iii.  2,  3),  that  thou  mightest  know  and 
assay  their  kind  (lit.  way).  Jeremiah's  call  had  been  to 
"  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver  "  in  the  name 
of  his  God  :  in  other  words,  to  separate  the  good 
elements  from  the  bad  in  Israel,  and  to  gather  around 
himself  the  nucleus  of  a  people  ^'  prepared  for  lahvah." 
But  his  work  had  been  vain.  In  vain  had  the  prophetic 
fire  burnt  within  him ;  in  vain  had  the  vehemency  of 
the  spirit  fanned  the  flame;  the  Divine  word — that 
solvent  of  hearts — had  been  expended  in  vain  ;  no  good 
metal  could  come  of  an  ore  so  utterly  base.  They  are  all 
the  worst  (i  Ki.  xx.  43)  of  rebels  (or,  deserters  to  the  rebels), 
going  about  with  slander;  they  are  brass  and  iron; 
they  all  deal  corruptly}  The  bellows  blow;  the  lead 
(used  for  fining  the  ore)  is  consumed  by  the  fire;  in  vain 
do  they  go  oit  refining  (or,  does  the  refiner  refme'^) ;  and 
the  wicked  are  not  separated.  Refuse  silver  are  they 
called,  for  lahvah  hath  refused  them. 

'  This  term — masJichithim — is  certainly  not  the  plur.  of  the  mash- 
chith,  *'  pitfall  "  or  "  trap,"  of  v.  26.  The  meaning  is  the  same  as  in 
Isa.  i.  4,  The  original  force  of  the  root  shachath  is  seen  in  the 
Assyrian  shac/idtu,  "  to  fall  down." 

"^  The  form — cdrof— is  like  bdchon,  "  assayer,"  in  ver.  27. 


V. 

POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION, 
Jeremiah  vii.-x.,  xxvL 

IN  the  four  chapters  which  we  are  now  to  consider 
we  have  what  is  plainly  a  finished  whole.  The 
only  possible  exception  (x.  I- 1 6)  shall  be  considered  in 
its  place.  The  historical  occasion  of  the  introductory 
prophecy  (vii.  1-15),  and  the  immediate  effect  of  its 
delivery,  are  recorded  at  length  in  the  twenty-sixth 
chapter  of  the  book,  so  that  in  this  instance  we  are 
happily  not  left  to  the  uncertainties  of  conjecture.  We 
are  there  told  that  it  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  Jehoiakim  son  offosiah,  king  of  fudahy  that  Jeremiah 
received  the  command  to  stand  in  the  fore-court  of 
lahvah's  house,  and  to  declare  to  all  the  cities  ofjudah  that 
were  come  to  worship  there,  that  unless  they  repented  and 
gave  ear  to  lahvah's  servants  the  prophets,  He  would 
make  the  temple  like  Shiloh,  and  Jerusalem  itself  a 
curse  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  substance  of 
the  oracle  is  there  given  in  briefer  form  than  here,  as 
was  natural,  where  the  writer's  object  was  principally 
to  relate  the  issue  of  it  as  it  affected  himself.  In 
neither  case  is  it  probable  thai  we  have  a  verbatim 
report  of  what  was  actually  said,  though  the  leading 
thoughts  of  his  address  are,  no  doubt,  faithfully 
recorded  by  the  prophet  in  the  more  elaborate  com- 


ISO  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

position  (chap.  vii.).     Trifling  variations  between  the 
two  accounts  must  not,  therefore,  be  pressed. 

Internal  evidence  suggests  that  this  oracle  was 
delivered  at  a  time  of  grave  public  anxiety,  such  as 
marked  the  troubled  period  after  the  death  of  Josiah, 
and  the  early  years  of  Jehoiakim.  Alljudah,  or  all  the 
cities  ofjudah  (xxvi.  2),  that  is  to  say,  the  people  of 
the  country  towns  as  well  as  the  citizens  of  Jerusalem, 
were  crowding  into  the  temple  to  supplicate  their  God 
(vii.  2).  This  indicates  an  extraordinary  occasion,  a 
national  emergency  affecting  all  alike.  Probably  a 
public  fast  and  humiliation  had  been  ordered  by  the 
authorities,  on  the  reception  of  some  threatening  news 
of  invasion.  "  The  opening  paragraphs  of  the  address 
are  marked  by  a  tone  of  controlled  earnestness,  by 
an  unadorned  plainness  of  statement,  without  passion, 
without  exclamation,  apostrophe,  or  rhetorical  device 
of  any  kind  ;  which  betokens  the  presence  of  a  danger 
which  spoke  too  audibly  to  the  general  ear  to  require 
artificial  heightening  in  the  statement  of  it.  The 
position  of  affairs  spoke  for  itself"  (Hitzig).  The  very 
words  with  which  the  prophet  opens  his  message, 
Thus  said  laJivah  Sabaoth,  the  God  of  Israel^  Make 
good  your  ways  and  your  doings,  that  I  may  cause  you  to 
dwell  {permanently)  in  this  place  !  (ver.  3,  cf.  ver.  7)  prove 
that  the  anxiety  which  agitated  the  popular  heart  and 
drove  it  to  seek  consolation  in  religious  observances, 
was  an  anxiety  about  their  political  stability,  about 
the  permanence  of  thei  v.-ssession  of  the  fair  land  of 
promise.  The  use  of  the  expression  lahvah  Sabaoth 
*'  lahvah  (the  God)  of  Hosts "  is  also  significant,  as 
indicating  that  war  was  what  the  nation  feared ;  while 
the  prophet  reminds  them  thus  that  all  earthly  powers, 
even  the  armies  of  heathen  invaders,  are  controlled  and 


vii.-x., xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND    TRUE  RELIGION.  151 

directed  by  the  God  of  Israel  for  His  own  sovereign 
purposes.  A  particular  crisis  is  further  suggested  by 
the  warning :  Trust  ye  not  to  the  lying  words,  '  The 
Temple  of  lahvah,  the  Temple  of  lahvah,  the  Temple  of 
lahvahy  is  this  T  The  fanatical  confidence  in  the 
inviolability  of  the  temple,  which  Jeremiah  thus 
deprecates,  impUes  a  time  of  pubhc  danger.  A  hun- 
dred 3'ears  before  this  time  the  temple  and  the  city 
had  really  come  through  a  period  of  the  gravest  peril, 
justifying  in  the  most  palpable  and  unexpected  manner 
the  assurances  of  the  prophet  Isaiah.  This  was 
remembered  now,  when  another  crisis  seemed  immi- 
nent, another  trial  of  strength  between  the  God  of 
Israel  and  the  gods  of  the  heathen.  Only  part  of  the 
prophetic  teachings  of  Isaiah  had  rooted  itself  in  the 
popular  mind — the  part  most  agreeable  to  it.  The 
sacrosanct  inviolability  of  the  temple,  and  of  Jerusalem 
for  its  sake,  was  an  idea  readily  appropriated  and 
eagerly  cherished.  It  was  forgotten  that  all  depended 
on  the  will  and  purposes  of  lahvah  himself;  that  the 
heathen  might  be  the  instruments  with  which  He 
executed  his  designs,  and  that  an  invasion  of  Judah 
might  mean,  not  an  approaching  trial  of  strength 
between  His  omnipotence  and  the  impotency  of  the 
false  gods,  but  the  judicial  outpouring  of  His  righteous 
wrath  upon  His  own  rebellious  people. 

Jeremiah,  therefore,  affirms  that  the  popular  confi- 
dence is  ill-founded ;  that  his  countrymen  are  lulled  in 
a  false  security ;  and  he  enforces  his  point,  by  a  plain 
exposure  of  the  flagrant  offences,  which  render  their 
worship  a  mockery  of  God. 

Again,  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  startling  word, 
Add  your  burnt-offerings  to  your  (ordinary)  offerings^ 
and  eat  the  flesh  {of  them)  (vii.   21),  implies  a  time  of 


152  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

unusual  activity  in  the  matter  of  honouring  the  God 
of  Israel  with  the  more  costly  offerings  of  which  the 
worshippers  did  not  partake,  but  which  were  wholly 
consumed  on  the  altar ;  which  fact  also  might  point  to 
a  season  of  special  danger. 

And,  lastly,  the  references  to  taking  refuge  behind 
the  walls  of 'defenced  cities'  (viii.  14;  x.  17),  as  we 
know  that  the  Rechabites  and  doubtless  most  of  the 
rural  populace  took  refuge  in  Jerusalem  on  the  approach 
of  the  third  and  last  Chaldean  expedition,  seem  to 
prove  that  the  occasion  of  the  prophecy  was  the  first 
Chaldean  invasion,  which  ended  in  the  submission  of 
Jehoiakim  to  the  yoke  of  Babylon  (2  Kings  xxiv.  i). 
Already  the  northern  frontier  had  experienced  the 
destructive  onslaught  of  the  invaders,  and  rumour 
announced  that  they  might  soon  be  expected  to  arrive 
before  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  (viii.  16,  17). 

The  only  other  historical  occasion  which  can  be 
suggested  with  any  plausibility  is  the  Scythian  invasion 
of  Syria-Palestine,  to  which  the  previous  discourse  was 
assigned.  This  would  fix  the  date  of  the  prophecy  at 
some  point  between  the  thirteenth  and  the  eighteenth 
years  of  Josiah  (b.c.  629—624).  But  the  arguments  for 
this  view  do  not  seem  to  be  very  strong  in  themselves, 
and  they  certainly  do  not  explain  the  essential  identity 
of  the  oracle  summarized  in  chap.  xxvi.  1-6,  with  that 
of  vii.  1-15.  The  "undisguised  references  to  the 
prevalence  of  idolatry  in  Jerusalem  itself  (vii.  17;  cf. 
30,  31),  and  the  unwillingness  of  the  people  to  listen 
to  the  prophet's  teaching,  (vii.  27),"  are  quite  as  well 
accounted  for  by  supposing  a  religious  or  rather  an 
irreligious  reaction  under  Jehoiakim — which  is  every 
way  probable  considering  the  bad  character  of  that 
king  (2  Kings   xxiii.  n)  Jer.  xxii.   13  sqq.),  and  the 


vii.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND    TRUE  RELIGION.  153 

serious  blow  inflicted  upon  the  reforming  party  by  the 
death  of  Josiah  ;  as  by  assuming  that  the  prophecy 
belongs  to  the  years  before  the  extirpation  of  idolatry 
in  the  eighteenth  year  of  the  latter  sovereign. 

And  now  let  us  take  a  rapid  glance  at  the  salient 
points  of  this  remarkable  utterance.  The  people  are 
standing  in  the  outer  court,  with  their  faces  turned 
toward  the  court  of  the  priests,  in  which  stood  the 
holy  house  itself  (Ps.  v.  7).  The  prophetic  speaker 
stands  facing  them,  "in  the  gate  of  the  Lord's  house," 
the  entry  of  the  upper  or  inner  court,  the  place  whence 
Baruch  was  afterwards  to  read  another  of  his  oracles 
to  the  people  (xxxvi.  10).  Standing  here,  as  it  were 
between  his  audience  and  the  throne  of  lahvah, 
Jeremiah  acts  as  visible  mediator  between  them  and 
their  God.  His  message  to  the  worshippers  who 
throng  the  courts  of  lahvah's  sanctuary  is  not  one  of 
approval.  He  does  not  congratulate  them  upon  their 
manifest  devotion,  upon  the  munificence  of  their  offer- 
ings, upon  their  ungrudging  and  unstinted  readiness 
to  meet  an  unceasing  drain  upon  their  means.  His 
message  is  a  surprise,  a  shock  to  their  self-satisfaction, 
an  alarm  to  their  slumbering  consciences,  a  menace  of 
wrath  and  destruction  upon  them  and  their  holy  place. 
His  very  first  word  is  calculated  to  startle  their  self- 
righteousness,  their  misplaced  faith  in  the  merit  of 
their  worship  and  service.  Amend  your  ways  and  your 
doings  I  Where  was  the  need  of  amendment  ?  they 
might  ask.  Were  they  not  at  that  moment  engaged 
in  a  function  most  grateful  to  lahvah  ?  Were  they 
not  keeping  the  law  of  the  sacrifices,  and  were  not  the 
Levitical  priesthood  ministering  in  their  order,  and 
receiving  their  due  share  of  the  offerings  which  poured 
into  the  temple  day  by  day  ?     Was  not  all  this  honour 


154  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

enough  to  satisfy  the  most  exacting  of  deities  ?  Per- 
haps it  was,  had  the  deity  in  question  been  merely  as  one 
of  the  gods  of  Canaan.  So  much  Hp-service,  so  many 
sacrifices  and  festivals,  so  much  joyous  reveUing  in  the 
sanctuary,  might  be  supposed  to  have  sufficiently 
appeased  one  of  the  common  Baals,  those  half-womanish 
phantoms  of  deity  whose  delight  was  imagined  to  be 
in  feasting  and  debauchery.  Nay,  so  much  zeal  might 
have  propitiated  the  savage  heart  of  a  Molech.  But 
the  God  of  Israel  was  not  as  these,  nor  one  of  these ; 
though  His  ancient  people  were  too  apt  to  conceive 
thus  of  Him,  and  certain  modern  critics  have  uncon- 
sciously followed  in  their  wake. 

Let  us  see  what  it  was  that  called  so  loudly  for 
amendment,  and  then  we  may  become  more  fully  aware 
of  the  gulf  that  divided  the  God  of  Israel  from  the 
idols  of  Canaan,  and  His  service  from  all  other  service. 
It  is  important  to  keep  this  radical  difference  steadily 
before  our  minds,  and  to  deepen  the  impression  of  it, 
in  days  when  the  effort  is  made  by  every  means  to 
confuse  lahvah  with  the  gods  of  heathendom,  and  to 
rank  the  religion  of  ^srael  with  the  lower  surrounding 
systems. 

Jeremiah  accuses  his  countrymen  of  flagrant  trans- 
gression of  the  universal  laws  of  morality.  Theft, 
murder,  adultery,  perjury,  fraud  and  covetousness, 
slander  and  lying  and  treachery  (vii.  9,  ix.  3-8),  are 
charged  upon  these  zealous  worshippers  by  a  man  who 
lived  amongst  them,  and  knew  them  well,  and  could  be 
contradicted  at  once  if  his  charges  were  false. 

He  tells  them  plainly  that,  in  virtue  of  their  fre- 
quenting it,  the  temple  is  become  a  den  of  robbers. 

And  this  trampling  upon  the  common  rights  of  man 
has  its  counterpart  and  its  climax  in  treason  against 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  155 

God,  in  burning  incense  to  the  Baal,  and  walking  after 
other  gods  whom  they  know  not  (vii.  9) ;  in  an  open  and 
shameless  attempt  to  combine  the  worship  of  the  God 
who  had  from  the  outset  revealed  Himself  to  their 
prophets  as  a  "jealous,"  />.,  an  exclusive  God,  with 
the  worship  of  shadows  who  had  not  revealed  them- 
selves at  all,  and  could  not  be  "known,"  because 
devoid  of  all  character  and  real  existence.  They  thus 
ignored  the  ancient  covenant  which  had  constituted 
them  a  nation  (vii.  23). 

In  the  cities  of  Judah,  in  the  streets  of  the  very 
capital,  the  cultus  of  Ashtoreth,  the  Queen  of  Heaven, 
the  voluptuous  Canaanite  goddess  of  love  and  dalliance, 
was  busily  practised  by  whole  families  together,  in 
deadly  provocation  of  the  God  of  Israel.  The  first 
and  great  commandment  said.  Thou  shalt  love  lahvah 
thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve.  And  they 
loved  and  served  and  followed  and  sought  after  and 
worshipped  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  host  of 
heaven,  the  objects  adored  by  the  nation  that  was  so 
soon  to  enslave  them  (viii.  2).  Not  only  did  a  worldly, 
covetous  and  sensual  priesthood  connive  in  the  restora- 
tion of  the  old  superstitions  which  associated  other  gods 
with  lahvah,  and  set  up  idol  symbols  and  altars  within 
the  precincts  of  His  temple,  as  Manasseh  had  done 
(2  Kings  xxi.  4-5) ;  they  went  further  than  this  in  their 
"  syncretism,"  or  rather  in  their  perversity,  their  spiritual 
blindness,  their  wilful  misconception  of  the  God  revealed 
to  their  fathers.  They  actually  confounded  Him — the 
Lord  who  exercised  loving  kindness,  justice,  and  righteous- 
ness, and  delighted  in  the  exhibition  of  these  qualities  by 
His  worshippers  (ix.  24)— with  the  dark  and  cruel  sun- 
god  of  the  Ammonites.  They  rebuilt  the  high-places  of  the 
Tophet,  in  the  valley  of  ben  Hinnom,  on  the  north  side 


156  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

of  Jerusalem,  to  burn  their  sons  and  their  daughters  in  the 
fire;  if  by  means  so  revolting  to  natural  affection  they 
might  win  back  the  favour  of  heaven — means  which 
lahvah  commanded  not,  neither  came  they  into  His  mind 
(vii,  31).  Such  fearful  and  desperate  expedients  were 
doubtless  first  suggested  by  the  false  prophets  and 
priests  in  the  times  of  national  adversity  under  king 
Manasseh.  They  harmonized  only  too  well  with  the 
despair  of  a  people,  who  saw  in  a  long  succession  of 
poHtical  disasters  the  token  of  lahvah's  unforgiving 
wrath.  That  these  dreadful  rites  were  not  a  ''sur- 
vival "  in  Israel,  seems  to  follow  from  the  horror  which 
they  excited  in  the  allied  armies  of  the  two  kingdoms, 
when  the  king  of  Moab,  in  the  extremity  of  the  siege, 
offered  his  eldest  son  as  a  burnt-offering  on  the  wall 
of  his  capital  before  the  eyes  of  the  besiegers.  So 
appalled  were  the  Israelite  forces  by  this  spectacle  of  a 
father's  despair,  that  they  at  once  raised  the  blockade, 
and  retreated  homeward  (2  Kings  iii.  27).  It  is  prob- 
able, then,  that  the  darker  and  bloodier  aspects  of 
heathen  worship  were  of  only  recent  appearance  among 
the  Hebrews,  and  that  the  rites  of  Molech  had  not  been 
at  all  frequent  or  familiar,  until  the  long  and  harassing 
conflict  with  Assyria  broke  the  national  spirit  and 
inclined  the  people,  in  their  trouble,  to  welcome  the 
suggestion  that  costlier  sacrifices  were  demanded,  if 
lahvah  was  to  be  propitiated  and  His  wrath  appeased. 
Such  things  were  not  done,  apparently,  in  Jeremiah's 
time ;  he  mentions  them  as  the  crown  of  the  nation's 
past  offences;  as  sins  that  still  cried  to  heaven  for 
vengeance,  and  would  surely  entail  it,  because  the 
same  spirit  of  idolatry  which  had  culminated  in  these 
excesses,  still  lived  and  was  active  in  the  popular  heart. 
It  is  the  persistence  in  sins  of  the  same  character  which 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND    TRUE  RELIGION.  157 

involves  our  drinking  to  the  dregs  the  cup  of  punish- 
ment for  the  guilty  past.  The  dark  catalogue  of  for- 
gotten offences  witnesses  against  us  before  the  Unseen 
Judge,  and  is  only  obliterated  by  the  tears  of  a  true 
repentance,  and  by  the  new  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart 
and  life.  Then,  as  in  some  palimpsest,  the  new  record 
covers  and  conceals  the  old  ;  and  it  is  only  if  we  fatally 
relapse,  that  the  erased  writing  of  our  misdeeds  becomes 
visible  again  before  the  eye  of  Heaven.  Perhaps  also 
the  prophet  mentions  these  abominations  because  at 
the  time  he  saw  around  him  unequivocal  tendencies  to 
the  renewal  of  them.  Under  the  patronage  or  with  the 
connivance  of  the  wicked  king  Jehoiakim,  the  reaction- 
ary party  may  have  begun  to  set  up  again  the  altars 
thrown  down  by  Josiah,  while  their  religious  leaders 
advocated  both  by  speech  and  writing  a  return  to  the 
abolished  cultus.  At  all  events,  this  supposition  gives 
special  point  to  the  emphatic  assertion  of  Jeremiah, 
that  lahvah  had  not  commanded  nor  even  thought  of 
such  hideous  rites.  The  reference  to  the  false  labours 
of  the  scribes  (chap.  viii.  8J  lends  colour  to  this  view. 
It  may  be  that  some  of  the  interpreters  of  the  sacred 
law  actually  anticipated  certain  writers  of  our  own 
day,  in  putting  this  terrible  gloss  upon  the  precept. 
The  firstborn  oj  thy  sons  shalt  thou  give  unto  Me  (Ex. 
xxii.  29). 

The  people  of  Judah  were  misled,  but  they  were 
willingly  misled.  When  Jeremiah  declares  to  them, 
Lo,  ye .  are  trusting,  for  your  part,  upon  the  words  of 
delusion^  so  that  ye  gain  no  good  !  (vii.  8)  it  is  perhaps 
not  so  much  the  smooth  prophecies  of  the  false  prophets 
as  the  fatal  altitude  of  the  popular  mind,  out  of  which 
those  misleading  oracles  grew,  and  which  in  turn  they 
aggravated,  that   the  speaker   deprecates.     He  warns 


158  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

them  that  an  absolute  trust  in  the  prcesentia  Numinis  is 
delusive ;  a  trust,  cherished  like  theirs  independently 
of  the  condition  of  its  justification,  viz.,  a  walk  pleasing 
to  God.  What !  will  ye  break  all  My  laws,  and  then 
come  and  stand  with  polluted  hands  before  Me  in  this 
house  (Isa.  i.  15),  wJiich  is  named  after  Me  '  lahvah^s 
House f  (Isa.  iv.  i),  and  reassure  yourselves  with  the 
thought,  We  are  absolved  from  the  consequences  of  all 
these  abominations  ?  (vv.  9-10.  Lit.  We  are  saved, 
rescued,  secured^  with  regard  to  having  done  all  these 
abominations :  cf.  ii.  35.  But  perhaps,  with  Ewald,  we 
should  point  the  Hebrew  term  differently,  and  read, 
*^  Save  us  1 "  to  do  all  these  abominations,  as  if  that  were 
the  express  object  of  their  petition,  which  would  really 
ensue,  if  their  prayer  were  granted  :  a  fine  irony.  For 
the  form  of  the  verb,  cf.  Ezek.  xiv.  14.)  They  thought 
their  formal  devotions  were  more  than  enough  to 
counterbalance  any  breaches  of  the  decalogue;  they 
laid  that  flattering  unction  to  their  souls.  They  could 
make  it  up  with  God  for  setting  His  moral  law  at  nought. 
It  was  merely  a  question  of  compensation.  They  did 
not  see  that  the  moral  law  is  as  immutable  as  laws 
physical ;  and  that  the  consequences  of  violating  or 
keeping  it  are  as  inseparable  from  it  as  pain  from  a 
blow,  or  death  from  poison.  They  did  not  see  that  the 
moral  law  is  simply  the  law  of  man's  health  and  wealth, 
and  that  the  transgression  of  it  is  sorrow  and  suffering 
and  death. 

*'  If  men  like  you,"  argues  the  prophet,  "  dare  to  tread 
these  courts,  it  must  be  because  you  believe  it  a  proper 
thing  to  do  But  that  belief  implies  that  you  hold  the 
temple  to  be  something  other  than  what  it  really  is  ;  that 
you  see  no  incongruity  in  making  the  House  of  lahvah 
a  meeting-place  of  murderers  (spelunca  latronum  :  Matt. 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  159 


xxi.  13).  That  you  have  yourselves  made  it,  in  the 
full  view  of  lahvah,  whose  seeing  does  not  rest  there, 
but  involves  results,  such  as  the  present  crisis  of  public 
affairs ;  the  national  danger  is  proof  that  He  has  seen 
your  heinous  misdoings."  For  lahvah's  seeing  brings  a 
vindication  of  right,  and  vengeance  upon  evil  (2  Chron. 
xxiv.  22 ;  Ex.  iii.  7).  He  is  the  watchman  that  never 
slumbers  nor  sleeps;  the  eternal  Judge,  Who  ever 
upholds  the  law  of  righteousness  in  the  affairs  of  man, 
nor  suffers  the  slightest  infringement  of  that  law  to 
go  unpunished.  And  this  unceasing  watchfulness,  this 
perpetual  dispensation  of  justice,  is  really  a  mani- 
festation of  Divine  mercy ;  for  the  purpose  of  it  is  to 
save  the  human  race  from  self-destruction,  and  to  raise 
it  ever  higher  in  the  scale  of  true  well-being,  which 
essentially  consists  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  obedi- 
ence to  His  laws. 

Jeremiah  gives  his  audience  further  ground  for  con- 
viction. He  points  to  a  striking  instance  in  which 
conduct  Hke  theirs  had  involved  results  such  as  his 
warning  holds  before  them.  He  establishes  the  proba- 
bility of  chastisement  by  an  historical  parallel.  He 
offers  them,  so  to  speak,  ocular  demonstration  of  his 
doctrine.  /  also^  lo,  I  have  seen,  saith  lahvah  !  Your 
eyes  are  fixed  on  the  temple;  so  are  Mine,  but  in  a 
different  way.  You  see  a  national  palladium ;  /  see  a 
desecrated  sanctuary,  a  shrine  polluted  and  profaned. 
This  distinction  between  God's  view  and  yours  is 
certain  :  /or,  go  ye  now  to  My  place  which  was  at  Shi/oh, 
where  I  caused  My  Name  to  abide  at  the  outset  (of  your 
settlement  in  Canaan)  ;  and  see  the  thing  that  I  have 
done  to  it^  because  of  the  wickedness  of  My  people  Israei 
(the  northern  kingdom).  There  is  the  proof  that 
lahvah   seeth  not  as  man  seeth  ;  there,   in   that  dis- 


i6o  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

mantled  ruin,  in  that  historic  sanctuary  of  the  more 
powerful  kingdom  of  Ephraim,  once  visited  by  thousands 
of  worshippers  like  Jerusalem  to-day,  now  deserted  and 
desolate,  a  monument  of  Divine  wrath. 

The  reference  is  not  to  the  tabernacle,  the  sacred 
Tent  of  the  Wanderings,  which  was  first  set  up  at  Nob 
(i  Sam.  xxi.  22)  and  then  removed  to  Gibeon  (2  Chron. 
i.  3),  but  obviously  to  a  building  more  or  less  like  the 
temple,  though  less  magnificent.  The  place  and  its 
sanctuary  had  doubtless  been  ruined  in  the  great 
catastrophe,  when  the  kingdom  of  Samarfa  fell  before 
the  power  of  Assyria  (721  b.c). 

In  the  following  words  (vv.  13-15)  the  example  is 
applied.  And  now — stating  the  conclusion — because  of 
your  having  done  all  these  deeds  (saith  lahvah,  LXX. 
omits),  and  because  I  spoke  unto  you  (early  and  late, 
LXX.  omits),  and  ye  hearkened  not,  and  I  called  you 
and  ye  answered  not  (Prov.  i.  24)  :  /  will  do  unto  the 
house  upon  which  My  Name  is  called,  wherein  ye  arc 
trusting,  and  unto  the  place  which  I  gave  to  you  and  to 
your  fathers — as  I  did  unto  Shiloh. 

Some  might  think  that  if  the  city  fell,  the  holy 
house  would  escape,  as  was  thought  by  many  Hke- 
minded  fanatics  when  Jerusalem  was  beleaguered  by 
the  Roman  armies  seven  centuries  later  :  but  Jeremiah 
declares  that  the  blow  will  fall  upon  both  alike  ;  and 
to  give  greater  force  to  his  words,  he  makes  the  judg- 
ment begin  at  the  house  of  God.  (The  Hebrew 
reader  will  note  the  dramatic  effect  of  the  disposition 
of  the  accents.  The  principal  pause  is  placed  upon  the 
word  **  fathers,"  and  the  reader  is  to  halt  in  momentary 
suspense  upon  that  word,  before  he  utters  the  awful 
three  which  close  the  verse :  as  I — did  to — Shiloh. 
The  Massorets  were  masters  of  this  kind  of  emphasis.) 


vii.-x.,  xr.vi.]    POPULAR  AND    TRUE  RELIGION,  i6i 

And  I  will  cast  you  away  from  My  Presence^  as  I  cast 
(all:  LXX.  omits '^)  your  kinsfolk,  all  the  posterity  of 
Ephraim  (2  Kings  xvii.  20).  Away  from  My  Presence : 
far  beyond  the  bounds  of  that  holy  land  where  I  have 
revealed  Myself  to  priests  and  prophets,  and  where 
My  sanctuary  stands ;  into  a  land  where  heathenism 
reigns,  and  the  knowledge  of  God  is  not;  into  the 
dark  places  of  the  earth,  that  lie  under  the  blighting 
shadow  of  superstition,  and  are  enveloped  in  the  moral 
midnight  of  idolatry.  Projiciam  vos  a  facie  inca.  The 
knowledge  and  love  of  God — heart  and  mind  ruled 
by  the  sense  of  purity  and  tenderness  and  truth  and 
right  united  in  an  Ineffable  Person,  and  enthroned 
upon  the  summit  of  the  universe — these  are  light 
and  life  for  man;  where  these  are,  there  is  His  Pre- 
sence. They  who  are  so  endowed  behold  the  face  of 
God,  in  Whom  is  no  darkness  at  all.  Where  these 
spiritual  endowments  are  non-existent ;  where  mere 
power,  or  superhuman  force,  is  the  highest  thought  of 
God  to  which  man  has  attained  ;  where  there  is  no  clear 
sense  of  the  essential  holiness  and  love  of  the  Divine 
Nature ;  there  the  world  of  man  lies  in  darkness  that 
may  be  felt;  there  bloody  rites  prevail;  there  harsh 
oppression  and  shameless  vices  reign :  for  the  dark 
places  of  the  earth  are  full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty. 

And  thou,  pray  thou  not  for  this  people  (xviii.   20), 

*  The  omissions  of  the  Septuagint  are  not  always  intelligent. 
The  repetition  of  the  "  all "  here  intensifies  the  idea  of  the  totality  of 
the  ruin  of  the  northern  kingdom.  The  two  clauses  balance  each 
other  :  all  your  brethren — all  the  seed  0/  Ephraim.  The  objection  that 
Edom  was  also  a  "  brother "  of  Israel  (Deut.  xxiii.  8 ;  Amos  i.  1 1) 
shews  a  want  of  rhetorical  sense. 

In  vii.  4  the  Septuagint  tastelessly  omits  the  third  "The  Temple  of 
lahvah  I "  upon  which  the  rhetorical  effect  largely  depends  :  cf.  chap. 
xxii.  29  ;  Isa.  vi.  3. 

II 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 


and  lift  not  up  for  them  outcry  nor  prayer^  and  urge 
not  Me,  for  I  hear  thee  not.  Seest  thou  not  what  they 
do  in  the  cities  of  Judah  and  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  ? 
The  children  gather  sticks,  and  the  fathers  light  the 
fire,  and  the  women  knead  dough,  to  make  sacred  buns 
(xliv.  ig)for  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  and  to  pour  libations 
to  other  gods,  in  order  to  grieve  Me  (Deut.  xxxii.  i6, 
2i).  Is  it  Me  that  they  grieve?  saith  lahvah;  is 
it  not  themselves  (rather),  in  regard  to  the  shame  of 
their  own  faces  (16-19). 

From  one  point  of  view,  all  human  conduct  may  be 
said  to  be  indifferent  to  God ;  He  is  avrdpKri^,  self- 
sufficing,  and  needs  not  our  praises,  our  love,  our 
obedience,  any  more  than  He  needed  the  temple  ritual 
and  the  sacrifices  of  bulls  and  goats.  Man  can  neither 
benefit  nor  injure  God;  he  can  only  affect  his  own 
fortunes  in  this  world  and  the  next,  by  rebellion  against 
the  laws  upon  which  his  welfare  depends,  or  by  a 
careful  observance  of  them.  In  this  sense,  it  is  true 
that  wilful  idolatry,  that  treason  against  God,  does  not 
"provoke"  or  "grieve"  the  Immutable  One.  Men  do 
such  things  to  their  own  sole  hurt,  to  the  shame  of 
their  own  faces  :  that  is,  the  punishment  will  be  the 
painful  realization  of  the  utter  groundlessness  of  their 
confidence,  of  the  folly  of  their  false  trust ;  the  morti- 
fication of  disillusion,  when  it  is  too  late.  That 
Jeremiah  should  have  expressed  himself  thus  is  sufficient 
answer  to  those  who  pretend  that  the  habitual  anthro- 
pomorphism of  the  prophetic  discourses  is  anything 
more  than  a  mere  accident  of  language  and  an  accom- 
modation to  ordinary  style. 

In  another  sense,  of  course,  it  is  profoundly  true  to 
say  that  human  sin  provokes  and  grieves  the  Lord. 
God  is  Love ;  and  love  may  be  pained  to  its  depths  by 


vii.-x.  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  163 

the  fault  of  the  beloved,  and  stirred  to  holy  indignation 
at  the  disclosure  of  utter  unworthiness  and  ingratitude. 
Something  corresponding  to  these  emotions  of  man 
may  be  ascribed,  with  all  reverence,  to  the  Inscrutable 
Being  who  creates  man  "  in  His  own  image,"  that  is, 
endowed  with  faculties  capable  of  aspiring  towards  Him, 
and  receiving  the  knowledge  of  His  being  and  character. 

Pray  not  thou  for  this  people  .  .  .  for  I  hear  thee  not ! 
Jeremiah  was  wont  to  intercede  for  his  people  (xi.  14, 
xviii.  20,  XV.  I ;  cf.  I  Sam.  xii.  23).  The  deep  pathos 
which  marks  his  style,  the  minor  key  in  which  almost 
all  his  public  utterances  are  pitched,  proves  that  the 
fate  which  he  saw  impending  over  his  country,  grieved 
him  to  the  heart.  "Our  sweetest  songs  are  those 
which  tell  of  saddest  thought ; "  and  this  is  eminently 
true  of  Jeremiah.  A  profound  melancholy  had  fallen 
like  a  cloud  upon  his  soul ;  he  had  seen  the  future, 
fraught  as  it  was  with  suffering  and  sorrow,  despair 
and  overthrow,  slaughter  and  bitter  servitude ;  a  picture 
in  which  images  of  terror  crowded  one  upon  another, 
under  a  darkened  sky,  from  which  no  ray  of  blessed 
hope  shot  forth,  but  only  the  lightnings  of  wrath  and 
extermination.  Doubtless  his  prayers  were  frequent, 
ahve  with  feeling,  urgent,  imploring,  full  of  the  convul- 
sive energy  of  expiring  hope.  But  in  the  midst  of  his 
strong  crying  and  tears,  there  arose  from  the  depths 
of  his  consciousness  the  conviction  that  all  was  in  vain. 
Pray  not  thou  for  this  people,  for  I  will  not  hear  thee. 
The  thought  stood  before  him,  sharp  and  clear  as  a 
command  ;  the  unuttered  sound  of  it  rang  in  his  ears, 
like  the  voice  of  a  destroying  angel,  a  messenger  of 
doom,  calm  as  despair,  sure  as  fate.  He  knew  it 
was  the  voice  of  God. 

In  the  history  of  nations  as  in  the  lives  of  individuals 


i64  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

there  are  times  when  repentance,  even  if  possible, 
would  be  too  late  to  avert  the  evils  which  long  periods 
of  misdoing  have  called  from  the  abyss  to  do  their 
penal  and  retributive  work.  Once  the  dike  is  under- 
mined, no  power  on  earth  can  hold  back  the  flood  of 
waters  from  the  defenceless  lands  beneath.  And  when 
a  nation's  sins  have  penetrated  and  poisoned  all  social 
and  political  relations,  and  corrupted  the  very  fountains 
of  life,  you  cannot  avert  the  flood  of  ruin  that  must 
come,  to  sweep  away  the  tainted  mass  of  spoiled 
humanity ;  you  cannot  avert  the  storm  that  must  break 
to  purify  the  air,  and  make  it  fit  for  men  to  breathe  again. 
Therefore — because  of  the  national  unfaithfulness — 
thus  said  the  Lord  lahvah,  Lo,  Mine  anger  and  My 
fury  are  being  poured  out  toward  this  place — upon  the 
men,  and  upon  the  cattle,  and  upon  the  trees  of  the  field, 
and  upon  the  fruit  of  the  ground;  and  it  will  burn,  and 
not  be  quenched  !  (vii.  20).  The  havoc  wrought  by  war, 
the  harrying  and  slaying  of  man  and  beast,  the  felling 
of  fruit  trees  and  firing  of  the  vineyards,  are  intended ; 
but  not  so  as  to  exclude  the  ravages  of  pestilence  and 
droughts  (chap,  xiv.)  and  famine.  All  these  evils  are 
manifestations  of  the  wrath  of  lahvah.  Cattle  and 
trees  and  "  the  fruit  of  the  ground,"  i.e.  of  the  cornlands 
and  vineyards,  are  to  share  in  the  general  destruction 
(cf.  Hos.  iv.  3),  not,  of  course,  as  partakers  of  man's 
guilt,  but  only  by  way  of  aggravating  his  punishment. 
The  final  phrase  is  worthy  of  consideration,  because  of 
its  bearing  upon  other  passages.  It  will  burn  and  not 
be  quenched,  or  it  will  burn  unquenchably .  The  meaning 
is  not  that  the  Divine  wrath  once  kindled  will  go  on 
burning  for  ever ;  but  that  once  kindled,  no  human  or 
other  power  will  be  able  to  extinguish  it,  until  it  has 
accomplished  its  appointed  work  of  destruction. 


vii.-x., xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION,  165 

Thus  said  lahvah  Sabaoth,  the  God  of  Israel:  Your 
holocausts  add  ye  to  your  common  sacrifices,  and  eat  ye 
flesh  !  that  is,  Eat  flesh  in  abundance,  eat  your  fill  of 
it  I  Stint  not  yourselves  by  devoting  any  portion  of 
your  offerings  wholly  to  Me.  I  am  as  indifferent  to 
your  ^'  burnt-offerings,"  your  more  costly  and  splen- 
did gifts,  as  to  the  ordinary  sacrifices,  over  which  you 
feast  and  make  merry  with  your  friends  (l  Sam.  i. 
4,  13).  The  holocausts  which  you  are  now  burning 
on  the  altar  before  Me  will  not  avail  to  alter  My  settled 
purpose.  For  I  spake  not  with  your  fathers,  nor  com- 
manded them,  in  the  day  that  I  brought  them  forth  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,  concerning  matters  of  holocaust  and 
sacrifice,  but  this  matter  commanded  I  them,  "  Hearken 
ye  unto  My  voice,  so  become  I  God  to  you,  and  you — ye 
shall  become  to  Me  a  people  ;  and  walk  ye  in  all  the  way 
that  I  shall  commandyou,  that  it  may  go  well  with  you  I " 
(22-23)  cf.  Deut.  vi.  3.  Those  who  believe  that  the 
entire  priestly  legislation  as  we  now  have  it  in  the 
Pentateuch  is  the  work  of  Moses,  may  be  content  to 
find  in  this  passage  of  Jeremiah  no  more  than  an 
extreme  antithetical  expression  of  the  truth  that  to 
obey  is  better  than  sacrifice.  There  can  be  no  question 
that  from  the  outset  of  its  history,  Israel,  in  common 
with  all  the  Semitic  nations,  gave  outward  expression 
to  its  religious  ideas  in  the  form  of  animal  sacrifice. 
Moses  cannot  have  originated  the  institution,  he  found 
it  already  in  vogue,  though  he  may  have  regulated 
the  details  of  it.  Even  in  the  Pentateuch,  the  term 
*^  sacrifice "  is  nowhere  explained ;  the  general  under- 
standing of  the  meaning  of  it  is  taken  for  granted 
(see  Ex.  xii.  27,  xxiii.  18).  ReHgious  customs  are 
of  immemorial  use,  and  it  is  impossible  in  most  cases 
to  specify  the  period  of  their  origin.     But  while  it  is 


i66  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

certain  that  the  institution  of  sacrifice  was  of  extreme 
antiquity  in  Israel  as  in  other  ancient  peoples,  it  is 
equally  certain,  from  the  plain  evidence  of  their  extant 
writings,  that  the  prophets  before  the  Exile  attached 
no  independent  value  either  to  it  or  to  any  other  part 
of  the  ritual  of  the  temple.  We  have  already  seen 
how  Jeremiah  could  speak  of  the  most  venerable  of 
all  the  symbols  of  the  popular  faith  (iii.  1 6).  Now  he 
affirms  that  the  traditional  rules  for  the  burnt-offerings 
and  other  sacrifices  were  not  matters  of  special  Divine 
institution,  as  was  popularly  supposed  at  the  time.  The 
reference  to  the  Exodus  may  imply  that  already  in  his 
day  there  were  written  narratives  which  asserted  the 
contrary ;  that  the  first  care  of  the  Divine  Saviour  after 
He  had  led  His  people  through  the  sea  was  to  provide 
them  with  an  elaborate  system  of  ritual  and  sacrifice, 
identical  with  that  which  prevailed  in  Jeremiah's  day. 
The  important  verse  already  quoted  (viii.  8)  seems  to 
glance  at  such  pious  fictions  of  the  popular  religious 
teachers :  How  say  ye,  We  are  wise,  and  the  instruction 
(A.  V.  "law")  of  lahvah  is  with  us?  But  behold  for 
lies  hath  it  wrought — the  lying  pen  of  the  scribes  ! 

It  is,  indeed,  difficult  to  see  how  Jeremiah  or  any  of 
his  predecessors  could  have  done  otherwise  than  take 
for  granted  the  established  modes  of  public  worship, 
and  the  traditional  holy  places.  The  prophets  do  not 
seek  to  alter  or  abolish  the  externals  of  religion  as 
such ;  they  are  not  so  unreasonable  as  to  demand  that 
stated  rites  and  traditional  sanctuaries  should  be  dis- 
regarded, and  that  men  should  worship  in  the  spirit 
only,  without  the  aid  of  outward  symbolism  of  any  sort, 
however  innocent  and  appropriate  to  its  object  it  might 
seem.  They  knew  very  well  that  rites  and  ceremonies 
were  necessary  to  public  worship ;  what  they  protested 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  167 

against  was  the  fatal  tendency  of  their  time  to  make 
these  the  whole  of  religion,  to  suppose  that  lahvah's 
claims  could  be  satisfied  by  a  due  performance  of  these, 
without  regard  to  those  higher  moral  requirements  of 
His  law  which  the  ritual  worship  might  fitly  have 
symbolized  but  could  not  rightly  supersede.  It  was 
not  a  question  with  Hosea,  Amos,  Micah,  Isaiah, 
Jeremiah,  whether  or  not  lahvah  could  be  better 
honoured  with  or  without  temples  and  priests  and 
sacrifices.  The  question  was  whether  these  traditional 
institutions  actually  served  as  an  outward  expression 
of  that  devotion  to  Him  and  His  holy  law,  of  that 
righteousness  and  holiness  of  life,  which  is  the  only 
true  worship,  or  whether  they  were  looked  upon  as  in 
themselves  comprising  the  whole  of  necessary  religion. 
Since  the  people  took  this  latter  view,  Jeremiah  declares 
that  their  system  of  public  worship  is  futile. 

Hearken  unto  My  voice:  not  as  giving  regulations 
about  the  ritual,  but  as  inculcating  moral  duty  by  the 
prophets,  as  is  explained  immediately  (ver.  25),  and  as 
is  clear  also  from  the  statement  that  they  walked  in  the 
schemes  of  their  own  evil  heart  [omit :  in  the  stubbornness, 
with  LXX.,  and  read  moa0th  stat.  constr.],  and  Jell  to 
the  rear  and  not  the  front.  As  they  did  not  advance  in 
the  knowledge  and  love  of  the  spiritual  God,  who  was 
seeking  to  lead  them  by  His  prophets,  from  Moses 
downwards  (Deut.  xviii.  15),  they  steadily  retrograded 
and  declined  in  moral  worth,  until  they  had  become 
hopelessly  corrupt  and  past  correction.  (Lit.  and  they 
became  back  and  not  face,  which  may  mean,  they  turned 
their  backs  upon  lahvah  and  His  instruction.)  This 
steady  progress  in  evil  is  indicated  by  the  words,  and 
they  hardened  their  neck,  they  did  worse  than  their  fathers 
(ver.  26),     It  is  implied  that  this  was  the  case  with 


t68  the  prophecies  OF  JEREMIAH. 

each  successive  generation,  and  the  view  of  Israel's 
history  thus  expressed  is  in  perfect  harmony  with 
common  experience.  Progress,  one  way  or  the  other,  is 
the  law  of  character  ;  if  we  do  not  advance  in  goodness, 
we  go  back,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  we  advance  in 
evil. 

Finally,  the  prophet  is  warned  that  his  mission  also 
must  fail,  like  that  of  his  predecessors,  unless  indeed 
the  second  clause  of  ver.  27,  which  is  omitted  by  the 
Septuagint,  be  really  an  interpolation.  At  all  events, 
the  failure  is  implied  if  not  expressed,  for  he  is  to 
pronounce  a  sentence  of  reprobation  upon  his  people. 
And  thou  shalt  speak  all  these  words  unto  them  [and  they 
will  not  hearken  unto  thee^  and  thou  shalt  call  unto  them, 
and  they  will  not  answer  thee :  LXX.  omits].  Andthou  shalt 
say  unto  them,  This  is  the  nation  that  hearkened  not  unto 
the  voice  of  lahvah  its  God,  and  received  not  correction  : 
Good  faith  is  perished  and  cut  off  from  their  mouth 
(cf.  ix.  3  sq.).  The  charge  is  remarkable.  It  is  one 
which  Jeremiah  reiterates:  see  ver.  9,  vi.  13,  viii.  5, 
ix.  3  sqq.j  xii.  I.  His  fellow-countrymen  are  at  once 
deceivers  and  deceived.  They  have  no  regard  for  truth 
and  honour  in  their  mutual  dealings ;  grasping  greed 
and  hes  and  trickery  stamp  their  everyday  intercourse 
with  each  other;  and  covetousness  and  fraud  equally 
characterise  the  behaviour  of  their  religious  leaders. 
Where  truth  is  not  prized  for  its  own  sake,  there 
debased  ideas  of  God  and  lax  conceptions  of  morality 
creep  in  and  spread.  Only  he  who  loves  truth  comes 
to  the  light ;  and  only  he  who  does  God's  will  sees 
that  truth  is  divine.  False  beUef  and  false  living  in 
turn  beget  each  other;  and  as  a  matter  of  experience 
it  is  often  impossible  to  say  which  was  antecedent 
to  the  other. 


vii.-x., xxvi.J    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  169 

In  the  closing  section  of  this  first  part  of  his  long 
address  (vv.  29-viii.  3),  Jeremiah  apostrophizes  the 
country,  bidding  her  bewail  her  imminent  ruin.  Shear 
thy  tresses  (coronal  of  long  hair)  and  cast  them  away, 
and  lift  upon  the  bare  hills  a  lamentation  ! — sing  a 
dirge  over  thy  departed  glory  and  thy  slain  children, 
upon  those  unhallowed  mountain-tops  which  were  the 
scene  of  thine  apostasies  (iii.  21);  for  laJivah  hath 
rejected  and  forsaken  the  generation  of  His  wrath.  The 
hopeless  tone  of  this  exclamation  (cf.  also  vv.  15,  16, 
20)  seems  to  agree  better  with  the  times  of  Jehoiakim, 
when  it  had  become  evident  to  the  prophet  that  amend- 
ment was  beyond  hope,  than  with  the  years  prior  to 
Josiah's  reformation.  His  own  contemporaries  are  'the 
generation  of  lahvah's  wrath,'  i.e.  upon  which  His 
wrath  is  destined  to  be  poured  out,  for  the  day  of  grace 
is  past  and  gone  ;  and  this,  because  of  the  desecration 
of  the  temple  itself  by  such  kings  as  Ahaz  and 
Manasseh,  but  especially  because  l)f  the  horrors  of  the 
child-sacrifices  in  the  valley  of  ben  Hinnom  (2  Kings 
xvi.  3,  xxi.  3-6),  which  those  kings  had  been  the  first 
to  introduce  in  Judah.  Therefore  behold  days  are 
coming,  saith  lahvah,  and  it  shall  no  more  be  called  the 
Tophet  (an  obscure  term,  probably  meaning  something 
like  Pyre  or  Burningplace :  cf.  the  Persian  tab-idan  "to 
burn,"  and  the  Greek  Qairrw^  ra^-elv  "  to  bury,"  strictly 
"  to  burn  "  a  corpse ;  also  ru^o),  "  to  smoke,"  Sanskrit 
dhiip :  to  suppose  a  reproachful  name  like  ''  Spitting " 
=  " Object  of  loathing,"  is  clearly  against  the  context: 
the  honourable  name  is  to  be  exchanged  for  one  of  dis- 
honour), and  the  Valley  of  ben  Hinnom,  but  the  Valley 
jof  Slaughter,  and  people  shall  bury  in  \the~\  Tophet  for 
want  of  room  (elsewhere)  1  A  great  battle  is  contem- 
plated, as  is  evident  also  from  Deut.  xxviii.  25,  26,  the 


I70  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

latter  verse  being  immediately  quoted  by  the  prophet 
(ver.  33).  The  Tophet  will  be  defiled  for  ever  by 
being  made  a  burial  place ;  but  many  of  the  fallen  will 
be  left  unburied,  a  prey  to  the  vulture  and  the  jackal. 
In  that  fearful  time,  all  sounds  of  joyous  life  will 
cease  in  the  cities  of  Judah  and  in  the  capital  itself, 
for  the  land  will  become  a  desolation.  And  the  scornful 
enemy  will  not  be  satisfied  with  wreaking  his  vengeance 
upon  the  living ;  he  will  insult  the  dead,  by  breaking 
into  the  sepulchres  of  the  kings  and  grandees,  the  priests 
and  prophets  and  people,  and  haling  their  corpses  forth 
to  lie  rotting  in  face  of  the  sun,  moon  and  stars, 
which  they  had  so  sedulously  worshipped  in  their  life- 
time, but  which  will  be  powerless  to  protect  their  dead 
bodies  from  this  shameful  indignity.  And  as  for  the 
survivors,  death  will  he  preferred  to  life  in  the  case  of  all 
the  remnant  that  remain  of  this  evil  trihe^  in  all  the  places 
whither  I  shall  have  driven  them,  saith  lahvah  Sabaoth 
(omit  the  second  that  remain,  with  LXX.  as-  an 
accidental  repetition  from  the  preceding  line,  and  as 
breaking  the  construction).  The  prophet  has  reached 
the  conviction  that  Judah  will  be  driven  into  banish- 
ment; but  the  details  of  the  destruction  which  he 
contemplates  are  obviously  of  an  imaginative  and  rhe- 
torical character.  It  is,  therefore,  superfluous  to  ask 
whether  a  great  battle  was  actually  fought  afterwards 
in  the  valley  of  ben  Hinnom,  and  whether  the  slain 
apostates  of  Judah  were  buried  there  in  heaps,  and 
whether  the  conquerors  violated  the  tombs.  Had  the 
Chaldeans  or  any  of  their  allies  done  this  last,  in 
search  of  treasure  for  instance,  we  should  expect  to  find 
some  notice  of  it  in  the  historical  chapters  of  Jeremiah. 
But  it  was  probably  known  well  enough  to  the  sur- 
rounding peoples  that  the  Jews  were  not  in  the  habit  of 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  171 

burying  treasure  in  their  tombs.  The  prophet's  threat 
however,  curiously  corresponds  to  what  Josiah  is  related 
to  have  done  at  Bethel  and  elsewhere,  by  way  of  irre- 
parably polluting  the  high  places  (2  Kings  xxiii.  16  sqq^  ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  his  recollection  of  that  event, 
which  he  may  himself  have  witnessed,  determined  the 
form  of  Jeremiah's  language  here. 

In  the  second  part  of  this  great  discourse  (viii.  4-23) 
we  have  a  fine  development  of  thoughts  which  have 
already  been  advanced  in  the  opening  piece,  after  the 
usual  manner  of  Jeremiah.  The  first  half  (or  strophe) 
is  mainly  concerned  with  the  sins  of  the  nation  (vv. 
4-13),  the  second  with  a  despairing  lament  over  the 
punishment  (14-23  =rix.  i).  And  thou  shalt  say  unto 
them :  Thus  said  lahvah,  Do  men  fall  and  not  rise 
again  ?  Doth  a  man  turn  back,  and  not  return  ?  Why 
doth  Jerusalem  make  this  people  to  turn  back  with  an 
eternal  (or  perfect,  utter,  absolute)  turning  back  ?  Why 
clutch  they  deceit,  refuse  to  return  ?  (The  LXX.  omits 
"  Jerusalem,"  which  is  perhaps  only  a  marginal  gloss. 
We  should  then  have  to  read  2^2:0  shobab  for  nnitC^ 
shobebah,  as  ^* this  people"  is  masc.  The  He  has 
been  written  twice  by  inadvertence.  The  verb,  how- 
ever, is  transitive  in  1.  19 ;  Isa.  xlvii.  10,  etc. ;  and  I 
find  no  certain  instance  of  the  intrans.  form  besides 
Ezek.  xxxviii.  8,  participle.)  /  listened  and  heard; 
they  speak  not  aright  (Ex.  x.  29 ;  Isa.  xvi.  6) ;  not  a 
man  repenteth  over  his  evil,  saying  (or  thinking)^  '^  What 
have  I  done  ? "       They  all  (lit.    all  of  him,    i.e.    the 

Note  on  vii.  25. — ^The  word  answering  to  "  daily  "  in  the  Heb.  simply 
means  "day,"  and  ought  to  be  omitted,  as  an  accidental  repetition 
either  from  the  previous  line,  or  of  the  last  two  letters  of  the  preced- 
ing word  "prophets."  Cf.  ver.  13,  where  a  similar  phrase,  "rising 
early  and  speaking,"  occurs  in  a  similar  context,  but  without  "daily." 


172  THE  PROPHECIES   OF  JEREMIAH. 

people)  turn  back  into  their  courses  (plur.  Heb.  text; 
sing.  Heb.  marg.),  like  the  rushing  horse  into  the  battle. 

There  is  something  unnatural  in  this  obstinate  per- 
sistence in  evil.  If  a  man  happens  to  fall  he  does  not 
remain  on  the  ground,  but  quickly  rises  to  his  feet 
again  ;  and  if  he  turn  back  on  his  way  for  some  reason 
or  other,  he  will  usually  return  to  that  way  again. 
There  is  a  play  on  the  word  ^  turn  back '  or  '  return/ 
like  that  in  iii.  12,  14.  The  term  is  first  used  in  the 
sense  of  turning  back  or  away  from  lahvah,  and  then 
in  that  of  returning  to  Him,  according  to  its  metaphori- 
cal meaning  "  to  repent."  Thus  the  import  of  the 
question  is :  Is  it  natural  to  apostatize  and  never  to 
repent  of  it?  (Perhaps  we  should  rather  read,  after 
the  analogy  of  iii.  i,  "  Doth  a  man  go  away  (^^.^.il)  on 
a  journey,  and  not  return  ?  ") 

Others  interpret :  Doth  a  man  return^  and  not  return  ? 
That  is,  if  he  return,  he  does  it,  and  does  not  stop  mid- 
way ;  whereas  Judah  only  pretends  to  repent,  and  does 
not  really  do  so.  This,  however,  does  not  agree  with 
the  parallel  member,  nor  with  the  following  similar 
questions. 

It  is  very  noticeable  how  thoroughly  the  prophets, 
who,  after  all,  were  the  greatest  of  practical  moralists, 
identify  religion  with  right  aims  and  right  conduct. 
The  beginning  of  evil  courses  is  turning  away  from 
lahvah;  the  beginning  of  reform  is  turning  back  to 
lahvah.  For  lahvah's  character  as  revealed  to  the 
prophets  is  the  ideal  and  standard  of  ethical  perfection ; 
He  does  and  delights  in  love,  justice  and  equity  (ix.  2^^). 
If  a  man  look  away  from  that  ideal,  if  he  be  content 
with  a  lower  standard  than  the  Will  and  Law  of  the 
All-Perfect,  then  and  thereby  he  inevitably  sinks  in  the 
scale  of  morality.     The  prophets  are  not  troubled  by 


vii.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  173 

the  idle  question  of  medieval  schoolmen  and  sceptical 
moderns.  It  never  occurred  to  them  to  ask  the 
question  whether  God  is  good  because  God  wills  it, 
or  whether  God  wills  good  because  it  is  good.  The 
dilemma  is,  in  truth,  no  better  than  a  verbal  puzzle,  if 
we  allow  the  existence  of  a  personal  Deity.  For  the 
idea  of  God  is  the  idea  of  a  Being  who  is  absolutely 
good,  the  only  Being  who  is  such ;  perfect  goodness  is 
understood  to  be  realized  nowhere  else  but  in  God. 
It  is  part  of  His  essence  and  conception;  it  is  the 
aspect  under  which  the  human  mind  apprehends  Him. 
To  suppose  goodness  existing  apart  from  Him,  as  an 
independent  object  which  He  may  choose  or  refuse, 
is  to  deal  in  empty  abstractions.  We  might  as  well 
ask  whether  convex  can  exist  apart  from  concave  in 
nature,  or  motion  apart  from  a  certain  rate  of  speed. 
The  human  spirit  can  apprehend  God  in  His  moral 
perfections,  because  it  is,  at  however  vast  a  distance, 
akin  to  Him — a  divmce  particula  aurce;  and  it  can 
strive  towards  those  perfections  by  help  of  the  same 
grace  which  reveals  them.  The  prophets  know  of 
no  other  origin  or  measure  of  moral  endeavour  than 
that  which  lahvah  makes  known  to  them.  In  the 
present  instance,  the  charge  which  Jeremiah  makes 
against  his  contemporaries  is  a  radical  falsehood,  in- 
sincerity, faithlessness :  they  clutch  or  cling  to  deceit, 
they  speak  what  is  not  nght  or  honest,  straightforward 
(Gen.  xlii.  11,  19).  Their  treason  to  God  and  their 
treachery  to  their  fellows  are  opposite  sides  of  the  same 
fact.  Had  they  been  true  to  lahvah,  that  is,  to  His 
teachings  through  the  higher  prophets  and  their  own 
consciences,  they  would  have  been  true  to  one  another. 
The  forbearing  love  of  God,  His  tender  solicitude  to 
hear  and  save,  are  illustrated  by  the  words :  /  listened 


174  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

and  heard  .  .  .  not  a  man  repented  over  his  evil,  saying^ 
What  have  I  done  ?  (The  feeling  of  the  stricken  con- 
science could  hardly  be  more  aptly  expressed  than  by 
this  brief  question.)  But  in  vain  does  the  Heavenly 
Father  wait  for  the  accents  of  penitence  and  contrition  : 
they  all  return — go  back  again  and  again  (Ps.  xxiii.  6) — 
into  their  own  race  or  courses,  like  a  horse  rushing  (lit. 
pouring  forth  :  of  rushing  waters,  Ps.  Ixxviii.  20)  into 
the  battle.  The  eagerness  with  which  they  follow  their 
own  wicked  desires,  the  recklessness  with  which  they 
"give  their  sensual  race  the  rein/'  in  set  defiance  of 
God,  and  wilful  oblivion  of  consequences,  is  finely 
expressed  by  the  simile  of  the  warhorse  rushing  in 
headlong  eargerness  into  the  fray  (Job  xxxix.  25). 
Also  (or  even)  the  stork  in  the  heavens  knoweth  her 
appointed  times,  and  turtledove,  swift  and  crane  observe 
the  season  of  their  coming;  but  My  people  know  not  the 
ordinance  of  lahvah — what  He  has  willed  and  declared 
to  be  right  for  man  (His  Law ;  jus  divinum,  relligio 
divinci).  The  dullest  of  wits  can  hardly  fail  to  appre- 
ciate the  force  of  this  beautiful  contrast  between  the 
regularity  of  instinct  and  the  aberrations  of  reason. 
All  living  creatures  are  subject  to  laws  upon  obedience 
to  which  their  well-being  depends.  The  life  of  man  is 
no  exception ;  it  too  is  subject  to  a  law — a  law  which 
is  as  much  higher  than  that  which  regulates  mere 
animal  existence,  as  reason  and  conscience  and  spiri- 
tual aspiration  are  higher  than  instinct  aad  sexual 
impulse.  But  whereas  the  lower  forms  of  life  are 
obedient  to  the  laws  of  their  being,  man  rebels  against 
them,  and  dares  to  disobey  what  he  knows  to  be  for 
his  good ;  nay,  he  suffers  himself  to  be  so  blinded  by 
lust  and  passion  and  pride  and  self-will  that  at  last  he 
does  not  even  recognise  the  Law — the  ordinance  of  the 


vii.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  175 

Eternal— for  what  it  really  is,  the  organic  law  of  his 
true  being,  the  condition  at  once  of  his  excellence  and 
his  happiness. 

The  prophet  next  meets  an  objection.     He  has  just 
alleged  a  profound  moral  ignorance — a  culpable  ignor- 
ance—against the  people.     He  supposes  them  to  deny 
the  accusation,  as  doubtless  they  often  did  in  answer 
to  his  remonstrances  (cf  xvii.  15,  xx.  7  sy.)  How  can  ye 
say,  "  We  are  wise"— moraWy  wise—"  and  the  teaching 
oflahvah  is  with  us  I"  [but  behold:  LXX.  omits  :  either 
term  would  be  sufficient  by  itself]  for  the  Lie  hath  the 
lying  pen  of  the  scribes  made  it !     The  reference  clearly 
is  to  what  Jeremiah's  opponents  call  "  the  teaching  (or 
law :  torah)  of  lahvah "  ;  and  it  is  also  clear  that  the 
prophet  charges  the  "  scribes  "  of  the   opposite  party 
with    falsifying   or    tampering    with    the    teaching    of 
lahvah  in  some  way  or  other.     Is  it  meant  that  they 
misrepresented  the  terms  of  a  written  document,  such 
as  the  Book  of  the  Covenant,  or  Deuteronomy  ?     But 
they  could  hardly  do  this  without  detection,  in  the  case 
of  a  work  which  was  not  in  their  exclusive  possession. 
Or  does  Jeremiah  accuse  them  of  misinterpreting  the 
sacred  law,  by  putting  false  glosses  upon  its  precepts, 
as  might  be  done  in  a  legal  document  wherever  there 
seemed  room  for  a  difference  of  opinion,  or  wherever 
conflicting  traditional    interpretations    existed  side  by 
side  ?  (Cf.  my  remarks  on  vii.  31.)    The  Hebrew  may 
indicate  this,  for  we  may  translate :  But  lo,  into  the  lie 
the  lying  pen  of  the  scribes  hath  made  it  I  which  recalls 
St.  Paul's  description  of  the  heathen  as  changing  the 
truth  of  God  into  a  lie  (Rom.  i.  26).     The  construction 
is  the  same  as  in  Gen.  xii.  2  ;  Isa.  xHv.  17.    Or,  finally, 
does  he  boldly  charge  these  abettors  of  the  false  pro- 
phets  with    forging   supposititious   law-books,  in   the 


176  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

interest  of  their  own  faction,  and  in  support  of  the 
claims  and  doctrines  of  the  worldly  priests  and  prophets? 
This  last  view  is  quite  admissible,  so  far  as  the  Hebrew 
goes,  which,  however,  is  not  free  from  ambiguity.  It 
might  be  rendered,  But  behold^  in  vain,  or  bootlessly 
(iii.  23)  hath  the  lying  pen  of  the  scribes  laboured;  taking 
the  verb  in  an  absolute  sense,  which  is  not  a  common 
use  (Ruth  ii.  19).  Or  we  might  transpose  the  terms 
for  ''  pen  "  and  "  lying,"  and  render,  But  behold,  in  vain 
hath  the  pen  of  the  scribes  fabricated  falsehood.  In  any 
case,  the  general  sense  is  the  same :  Jeremiah  charges 
not  only  the  speakers,  but  the  writers,  of  the  popular 
party  with  uttering  their  own  inventions  in  the  name 
of  lahvah.  These  scribes  were  the  spiritual  ancestors 
of  those  of  our  Saviour's  time,  who  "  made  the  word  of 
God  of  none  effect  for  the  sake  of  their  traditions" 
(Matt.  XV.  6).  For  the  Lie  means,  to  maintain  the 
popular  misbelief.  (It  might  also  be  rendered,  for 
falsehood,  falsely ,  as  in  the  phrase  to  swear  falsely,  i.e., 
for  deceit ;  Lev.  v.  24.)  It  thus  appears  that  conflicting 
and  competing  versions  of  the  law  were  current  in  that 
age.  Has  the  Pentateuch  preserved  elements  of  both 
kinds,  or  is  it  homogeneous  throughout  ?  Of  the  scribes 
of  the  period  we,  alas !  know  little  beyond  what  this 
passage  tells  us.  But  Ezra  must  have  had  predecessors, 
and  we  may  remember  that  Baruch,  the  friend  and 
amanuensis  of  Jeremiah,  was  also  a  scribe  (xxxvi.  26). 
The  "  wise "  will  blush,  they  will  be  dismayed  and 
caught  I  Lo,  the  word  of  lahvah  they  rejected,  and 
wisdom  of  what  sort  have  they  ?  (vi.  10).  The  whole 
body  of  Jeremiah's  opponents,  the  populace  as  well 
as  the  priests  and  pi  phets,  are  intended  by  the  wise, 
that  is,  the  wise  in  their  own  conceits  (ver.  8) ;  there 
is  an  ironical  reference  to  their  own  assumption  of  the 


vii.-x.,  x::vi.]    POPULAR  AND    TRUE  RELIGION.  177 

title.  These  self-styled  wise  ones,  who  preferred  their 
own  wisdom  to  the  guidance  of  the  prophet,  will  be 
punished  by  the  mortification  of  discovering  their  folly 
when  it  is  too  late.  Their  folly  will  be  the  instrument 
of  their  ruin,  for  ^'  He  taketh  the  wise  in  their  own 
craftiness  "  as  in  a  snare  (Prov.  v.  22). 

They  who  reject  lahvah's  word,  in  whatever  form 
it  comes  to  them,  have  no  other  light  to  walk  by ;  they 
must  needs  walk  in  darkness,  and  stumble  at  noonday. 
For  lahvah's  word  is  the  only  true  wisdom,  the  only 
true  guide  of  man's  footsteps.  And  this  is  the  kind 
of  wisdom  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  offer  us  ;  not  a 
merely  speculative  wisdom,  not  what  is  commonly 
understood  by  the  terms  science  and  art,  but  the  price- 
less knowledge  of  God  and  of  His  will  concerning  us ; 
a  kind  of  knowledge  which  is  beyond  all  comparison 
the  most  important  for  our  well-being  here  and  here- 
after. If  this  Divine  wisdom,  which  relates  to  the 
proper  conduct  of  life  and  the  right  education  of  the 
highest  faculties  of  our  being,  seem  a  small  matter  to 
any  man,  the  fact  argues  spiritual  blindness  on  his 
part ;  it  cannot  diminish  the  glory  of  heavenly  wisdom. 

Some  well-meaning  but  mistaken  people  are  fond  of 
maintaining  what  they  call  "  the  scientific  accuracy 
of  the  Bible,"  meaning  thereby  an  essential  harmony 
with  the  latest  discoveries,  or  even  the  newest  hypo- 
theses, of  physical  science.  But  even  to  raise  such 
a  preposterous  question,  whether  as  advocate  or  as 
assailant,  is  to  be  guilty  of  a  crude  anachronism,  and 
to  betray  an  incredible  ignorance  of  the  real  value  of 
the  Scriptures.  That  value  I  believe  to  be  inestimable. 
But  to  discuss  "  the  scientific  accuracy  of  the  Bible " 
appears  to  me  to  be  as  irrelevant  to  any  profitable 
issue,   as  it  would   be   to   discuss   the    meteorological 

12 


178  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

precision  of  the  Mahabharata,  or  the  marvellous 
chemistry  of  the  Zendavesta,  or  the  physiological  reve- 
lations of  the  Koran,  or  the  enlightened  anthropology 
of  the  Nibelungenlied. 

A  man  may  reject  the  w^ord  of  lahvah,  he  may  reject 
Christ's  word,  because  he  supposes  that  it  is  not 
sufficiently  attested.  He  may  urge  that  the  proof  that 
it  is  of  GOD  breaks  dov^n,-  and  he  may  flatter  himself 
that  he  is  a  person  of  superior  discernment,  because 
he  perceives  a  fact  to  which  the  multitude  of  believers 
are  apparently  blind.  But  what  kind  of  proof  would 
he  have  ?  Does  he  demand  more  than  the  case  admits 
of?  Some  portent  in  earth  or  sky  or  sea,  which  in 
reality  would  be  quite  foreign  to  the  matter  in  hand, 
and  could  have  none  but  an  accidental  connexion  with 
it,  and  would,  in  fact,  be  no  proof  at  all,  but  itself  a 
mystery  requiring  to  be  explained  by  the  ordinary  laws 
of  physical  causation  ?  To  demand  a  kind  of  proof 
which  is  irrelevant  to  the  subject  is  a  mark  not  of 
superior  caution  and  judgment,  but  of  ignorance  and 
confusion  of  thought.  The  plain  truth  is,  and  the 
fact  is  abundantly  illustrated  by  the  teachings  of  the 
prophets  and,  above  all,  of  our  Divine  Lord,  that  moral 
and  spiritual  truths  are  self-attesting  to  minds  able 
to  realize  them  ;  and  they  no  more  need  supplementary 
corroboration  than  does  the  ultimate  testimony  of  the 
senses  of  a  sane  person. 

Now  the  Bible  as  a  whole  is  an  unique  repertory  of 
such  truths;  this  is  the  secret  of  its  age-long  influence 
in  the  world.  If  a  man  does  not  care  for  the  Bible, 
if  he  has  not  learned  to  appreciate  this  aspect  of  it,  if 
he  does  not  love  it  precisely  on  this  account,  I,  in  turn, 
care  very  little  for  his  opinion  about  the  Bible.  There 
may  be  much  in  the  Bible  which  is  otherwise  valuable, 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  179 

which  is  precious  as  history,  as  tradition,  as  bearing 
upon  questions  of  interest  to  the  ethnologist,  the  anti- 
quarian, the  man  of  letters.  But  these  things  are  the 
shell,  that  is  the  kernel ;  these  are  the  accidents,  that 
is  the  substance ;  these  are  the  bodily  vesture,  that  is 
the  immortal  spirit.  A  man  who  has  not  felt  this,  has 
yet  to  learn  what  the  Bible  is. 

In  his  text  as  we  now  have  it,  Jeremiah  proceeds 
to  denounce  punishment  on  the  priests  and  prophets, 
whose  fraudulent  oracles  and   false  interpretations  of 
the  Law  ministered  to  their  own  greedy  covetousness, 
and  who  smoothed  over  the  alarming  state  of  things 
by  false  assurances  that  all  was  well  (vv.  10- 1 2).    The 
Septuagint,  however,  omits  the  whole  passage  after  the 
words,   Therefore  I  will  give  their  wives  to  others,  their 
fields  to  conquerors  !  and  as  these  words  are  obviously 
an  abridgment  of  the  threat,  vi.   12  (cf.  Deut.  xxviii. 
30),   while   the   rest   of  the  passage  agrees   verbatim 
with  vi.  13-15,  it  may  be  supposed  that  a  later  editor 
inserted  it  in  the  margin  here,  as  generally  apposite 
(cf  vi.   10  with  ver.  9),  whence  it  has  crept  into  the 
text.      It   is    true   that   Jeremiah    himself  is    fond    of 
repetition,   but  not  so  as  to  interrupt  the  context,  as 
the  "therefore"  of  ver.   10  seems  to  do.     Besides,  the 
*'  wise  "  of  ver.  8  are  the  self-confident  people ;  but  if 
this   passage  be  in  place  here,   "  the  wise "  of  ver.  9 
will  have  to  be  understood  of  their  false  guides,  the 
prophets   and    priests.     Whereas,    if  the   passage    be 
omitted,  there  is  manifest  continuity  between  the  ninth 
verse  and   the  thirteenth :  *  V  will  sweep,  sweep  them 
awayy^  saith  lahvah;  no  grapes  on  the  vine,  and  no  figs 
on  the  fig  tree,  and  the  foliage  is  withered,  and  I  have 
given  them  destruction  (or  blasting). 

The  opening  threat  is    apparently  quoted  from  the 


i8o  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

contemporary  prophet  Zephaniah  (i.  2,  3).  The  point 
of  the  rest  of  the  verse  is  not  quite  clear,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  last  clause  of  the  Hebrew  text  is 
undoubtedly  corrupt.  We  might  suppose  that  the  term 
^'  laws  "  (D'')'?r))  had  fallen  out,  and  render,  and  I  gave 
them  laws  which  they  transgress  (cf  v.  22,  xxxi.  35). 
The  Vulgate  has  an  almost  literal  translation,  which 
gives  the  same  sense :  "  et  dedi  eis  quae  praetergressa 
sunt."*  The  Septuagint  omits  the  clause,  probably  on 
the  ground  of  its  difficulty.  It  may  be  that  bad  crops 
and  scarcity  are  threatened  (cf  chap,  xiv.,  v.  24,  25). 
In  that  case,  we  may  correct  the  text  in  the  manner 
suggested  above  D'^l^^^)  or  |^"»3  xvii.  18,  for  Dn^yi ; 
or  jiD'Ht?^  Amos  iv.  9,  for  the  Dn?y:  of  other  MSS.). 
Others  understand  the  verse  in  a  metaphorical  sense. 
The  language  seems  to  be  coloured  by  a  reminiscence 
of  Micah  vii.  I,  2  ;  and  the  *' grapes  "  and  ^'figs  "  and 
"  foliage "  may  be  the  fruits  of  righteousness,  and 
the  nation  is  like  Isaiah's  unfruitful  vineyard  (Isa.  v.) 
or  our  Lord's  barren  fig  tree  (Matt.  xxi.  19),  fit  only 
for  destruction  (cf.  also  vi.  9  and  ver.  20).  Another 
passage  which  resembles  the  present  is  Hab.  iii.  17: 
''  For  the  fig  tree  will  not  blossom,  and  there  will  be 


*  WcCetten  lahem  can  only  mean  "  and  I  gave  (in  prophetic  idiom 
'and  I  will  give  ')  unto  them,"  and  this,  of  course,  requires  an  object. 
"  I  will  give  them  to  those  who  shall  pass  over  them  "  is  the  rendering 
proposed  by  several  scholars.  But  lahem  does  not  mean  "to  those," 
and  the  thought  does  not  harmonize  with  what  precedes,  and  this 
use  of  "I3i;  is  doubtful,  and  the  verb  "  to  give  "  absolutely  requires 
an  object.  The  Vulgate  rendering  is  really  more  in  accordance  with 
Hebrew  syntax,  as  the  masc.  suffix  of  the  verb  might  be  used  in 
less  accurate  writing.  Targum :  "  because  I  gave  them  My  law 
from  Sinai,  and  they  transgressed  against  it ;  "  Peshito :  "  and  I  gave 
unto  them,  and  they  transgressed  them."  So  also  the  Syro-Hexaplar 
of  Milan  (participle  :  '*were  transgressing  ")  between  asterisks. 


vu.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE   RELIGION.  i8i 

no  yield  on  the  vines;  the  produce  of  the  olive  will 
disappoint,  and  the  fields  will  produce  no  food."  It 
was  natural  that  tillage  should  be  neglected  upon  the 
rumour  of  invasion.  The  country-folk  would  crowd 
into  the  strong  places,  and  leave  their  vineyards, 
orchards  and  cornfields  to  their  fate  (ver.  14).  This 
would,  of  course,  lead  to  scarcity  and  want,  and 
aggravate  the  horrors  of  war  with  those  of  dearth  and 
famine.  I  think  the  passage  of  Habakkuk  is  a  precise 
parallel  to  the  one  before  us.  Both  contemplate  a 
Chaldean  invasion,  and  both  anticipate  its  disastrous 
effects  upon  husbandry. 

It  is  possible  that  the  original  text  ran :  And  1 
have  given  {will  give)  unto  them  their  own  work  (i.e., 
the  fruit  of  it,  Dri^il.^  :  used  of  field-work,  Ex.  i.  14 ; 
of  the  earnings  of  labour,  Isa.  xxxii.  17).  This,  which 
is  a  frequent  thought  in  Jeremiah,  forms  a  very  suitable 
close  to  the  verse.  The  objection  is  that  the  prophet 
does  not  use  this  particular  term  for  "  work  "  elsewhere. 
But  the  fact  of  its  only  once  occurring  might  have 
caused  its  corruption.  (Another  term,  which  would 
closely  resemble  the  actual  reading,  and  give  much  the 
same  sense  as  this  last,  is  D'J''-^-^  "their  produce."  This, 
too,  as  a  very  rare  expression,  only  known  from  Josh.  v. 
II,  12,  might  have  been  misunderstood  and  altered  by 
an  editor  or  copyist.  It  is  akin  to  the  Aramaic  "i"i3y, 
and  there  are  other  Aramaisms  in  our  prophet.)  One 
thing  is  certain  ;  Jeremiah  cannot  have  written  what 
now  appears  in  the  Masoretic  text. 

It  is  now  made  clear  what  the  threatened  evil  is, 
in  a  fine  closing  strophe,  several  expressions  of  which 
recall  the  prophet's  magnificent  alarm  upon  the  coming 
of  the  Scythians  (cf.  iv.  5  with  viii.  14;  iv.  1$  with 
viii.    16;    iv.    19  with  viii.    18).     Here,   however,  the 


i82  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

colouring  is  darker,  and  the  prevailing  gloom  of  the 
picture  unrelieved  by  any  ray  of  hope.  The  former 
piece  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Josiah,  this  to  that  of  the 
worthless  Jehoiakim.  In  the  interval  between  the  two, 
moral  decline  and  social  and  poHtical  disintegration  had 
advanced  with  fearfully  accelerated  speed,  and  Jeremiah 
knew  that  the  end  could  not  be  far  off. 

The  fatal  news  of  invasion  has  come,  and  he 
sounds  the  alarm  to  his  countrymen.  Why  are  we 
sitting  still  (in  silent  stupefaction)  ?  assemble  your- 
selves, that  we  may  go  into  the  defenced  cities,  and  he 
silent  (or  amazed,  stupefied,  with  terror)  there !  for 
lahvah  our  God  hath  silenced  us  (with  speechless 
terror)  aud  given  us  water  of  gall  to  drink ;  for  we 
trespassed  toward  lahvah.  We  looked  for  peace  (or, 
weal,  prosperity^,  and  there  is  no  good;  for  a  time  of 
healing,  and  behold  panic  fear!  So  the  prophet 
represents  the  effect  of  the  evil  tidings  upon  the  rural 
population.  At  first  they  are  taken  by  surprise  ;  then 
they  rouse  themselves  from  their  stupor  to  take  refuge 
in  the  walled  cities.  They  recognise  in  the  trouble  a 
sign  of  lahvah's  anger.  Their  fond  hopes  of  returning 
prosperity  are  nipped  in  the  bud ;  the  wounds  of  the 
past  are  not  to  be  healed;  the  country  has  hardly 
recovered  from  one  shock,  before  another  and  more 
deadly  blow  falls  upon  it.  The  next  verse  describes 
more  particularly  the  nature  of  the  bad  news ;  the 
enemy,  it  would  seem,  had  actually  entered  the  land, 
and  given  no  uncertain  indication  of  what  the  Judeans 
might  expect,  by  his  ravages  on  the  northern  frontier. 

From  Dan  was  heard  the  snorting  of  his  horses  ;  at  the 
sound  of  the  neighings  of  his  chargers  all  the  land  did 
quake :  and  they  came  in  (into  the  country)  and  eat  up 
the  land  and  the  fulness  thereof,  a  city  and  them  that  dwelt 


vii.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  183 

therein.  This  was  what  the  invaders  did  to  city  after 
city,  once  they  had  crossed  the  border ;  ravaging  its 
domain,  and  sacking  the  place  itself.  Perhaps,  how- 
ever, it  is  better  to  take  the  perfects  as  prophetic,  and 
to  render  :  "  From  Dan  shall  be  heard  .  .  .  shall  quake  : 
and  they  shall  come  and  eat  up  the  land,"  etc.  This 
makes  the  connexion  easier  with  the  next  verse,  which 
certainly  has  a  future  reference  :  For  behold  I  am  about 
to  send  (or  simply,  /  send)  against  you  serpents,  basilisks 
(Isa.  xi.  8,  the  (^ij'oni  was  a  small  but  very  poisonous 
snake;  Aquila ^a<jCK'i(TKo<^y  Vulg.  regulus),/or  w/jom  there 
is  no^charm,  and  they  will  bite  you  !  saith  lahvah.  If  the 
tenses  be  supposed  to  describe  what  has  already  hap- 
pened, then  the  connexion  of  thought  may  be  expressed 
thus  :  all  this  evil  that  you  have  heard  of  has  happened, 
not  by  mere  ill  fortune,  but  by  the  Divine  will :  lahvah 
Himself  has  done  it,  and  the  evil  will  not  stop  there, 
for  He  purposes  to  send  these  destroying  serpents  into 
your  very  midst  (cf.  Num.  xxi.  6). 

The  eighteenth  verse  begins  in  the  Hebrew  with  a 
highly  anomalous  word,  which  is  generally  supposed 
to  mean  "my  source  of  comfort"  (^n^i^^no).  But  both 
the  strangeness  of  the  form  itself,  which  can  hardly  be 
paralleled  in  the  language,  and  the  indifferent  sense  which 
it  yields,  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  Hebrew  MSS.,  and 
the  variations  of  the  old  versions,  indicate  that  we  have 
here  another  corruption  of  the  text.  Some  Hebrew 
copies  divide  the  word,  and  this  is  supported  by  the 
Septuagint  and  the  Syro-Hexaplar  version,  which  treat 
the  verse  as  the  conclusion  of  ver.  17,  and  render  "and 
they  shall  bite  you  incurably  ^  with  pain  of  your  perplexed 
hearf^  (Syro-Hex.  ** without  cure").  But  if  the  first 
part  of  the  word  is  "  without  "  {hl^'O  '^for  lack  of"  .  .  .), 
what  is  the  second  ?     No  such  root  as  the  existing 


1 84  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

letters  imply  is  found  in  Hebrew  or  the  cognate  lan- 
guages. The  Targum  does  not  help  us  :  Because  they 
were  scoffing  (pi^r?D)  against  the  prophets  who  prophesied 
unto  them,  sorrow  and  sighing  will  I  bring  (>n\x)  upon 
them  on  account  of  their  sins  :  upon  them,  saith  the  prophet, 
my  heati  is  faint.  It  is  evident  that  this  is  no  better 
than  a  kind  of  punning  upon  the  words  of  the  Masoretic 
text.^  I  incline  to  read  "How  shall  I  cheer  myself? 
Upon  me  is  sorrow  ;  upon  me  my  heart  is  sick."  (The 
prophet  would  write  7})  not  bv.  for  "against,"  without 
a  suffix.  Read  pj;  hv  nr^fs  n^  Job  ix.  27,  x.  20 ; 
Ps.  xxxix.  14.)     The  passage  is  much  like  iv.  19. 

Another  possible  emendation  is :  "  lahvah  causeth 
sorrow  to  flash  forth  upon  me "  (t\^\\^  y^yo ;  after  the 
archetype  of  Amos  v.  9)  ;  but  I  prefer  the  former. 

Jeremiah  closes  the  section  with  an  outpouring  of 
his  own  overwhelming  sorrow  at  the  heart-rending 
spectacle  of  the  national  calamities.  No  reader  endued 
with  any  degree  of  feeling  can  doubt  the  sincerity  of 
the  prophet's  patriotism,  or  the  willingness  with  which 
he  would  have  given  his  own  life  for  the  salvation  of 
his  country.  This  one  passage  alone  says  enough  to 
exonerate  its  author  from  the  charge  of  indifference, 
much  more  of  treachery  to  his  fatherland.  He  imagines 
himself  to  hear  the  cry  of  the  captive  people,  who  have 
been  carried  away  by  the  victorious  invader  into  a 
distant  land  :  Hark  !  the  sound  of  the  imploring  cry  of 
the  daughter  of  my  people  from  a  land  far  away  !  "  Is 
lahvah  not  in  Sion  ?  or  is  not  her  King  in  her  ? "  (cf. 
Mic.  iv.  9).     Such  will  be  the  despairing  utterance  of 

*  It  seems  to  take  the  'hv  each  time  as  "hv  —  jirivl^  and  to  read 
»n*N  D^J'T^D  for  ^n^:>"?nD:  thus  getting  "  Scoffers  1  I  will  bring 
upon  them  sorrow ;  upon  them  my  heart  is  faint." 


vii.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  185 

the  exiles  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem ;  and  the  prophet 
hastens  to  answer  it  with  another  question,  which 
accounts  for  their  ruin  by  their  disloyalty  to  that 
heavenly  King  ;  O  why  did  they  vex  Me  with  their  graven 
images^  with  alien  vanities  ?  Compare  a  similar  question 
and  answer  in  an  earlier  discourse  (v.  19).  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  the  pathetic  words  which  follow — The 
harvest  is  past,  the  fruit-gathering  is  finished ,  but  as  for 
us,  we  are  not  delivered! — are  to  be  taken  as  a  further 
complaint  of  the  captives,  or  as  a  reference  by  the 
prophet  himself  to  hopes  of  deliverance  which  had  been 
cherished  in  vain,  month  after  month,  until  the  season 
of  campaigns  was  over.  In  Palestine,  the  grain  crops 
are  harvested  in  April  and  May,  the  ingathering  of  the 
fruit  falls  in  August.  During  all  the  summer  months, 
Jehoiakim,  as  a  vassal  of  Egypt,  may  have  been  eagerly 
hoping  for  some  decisive  interference  from  that  quarter. 
That  he  was  on  friendly  terms  with  that  power  at  the 
time  appears  from  the  fact  that  he  was  allowed  to  fetch 
back  refugees  from  its  territory  (xxvi.  22  sq.).  A  pro- 
vision for  the  extradition  of  offenders  is  found  in  the 
far  more  ancient  treaty  between  Ramses  II.  and  the 
king  of  the  Syrian  Chetta  (fourteenth  cent.  B.C.).  But 
perhaps  the  prophet  is  alluding  to  one  of  those  frequent 
failures  of  the  crops,  which  inflicted  so  much  misery 
upon  his  people  (cf.  vers.  13,  iii.  3,  v.  24,  25),  and 
which  were  a  natural  incident  of  times  of  political 
unsettlement  and  danger.  In  that  case,  he  says,  the 
harvest  has  come  and  gone,  and  left  us  unhelped  and 
disappointed.  I  prefer  the  political  reference,  though 
our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  period  is  so  scanty, 
that  the  particulars  cannot  be  determined. 

It  is  clear  enough  from  the  lyrical  utterance  which 
follows  (vv.  21-23),  that  heavy  disasters  had  already  be- 


i86  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

fallen  Judah  :  For  the  shattering  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people  am  I  shattered;  I  am  a  mourner;  astonishment 
hath  seized  me  !  This  can  hardly  be  pure  anticipation. 
The  next  two  verses  may  be  a  fragment  of  one  of  the 
prophet's  elegies  {qinoth).  At  all  events,  they  recall 
the  metre  of  Lam.  iv.  and  v : 

Doth  balm  in  Gileadfailt 
Fails  ike  healer  there  ? 
Why  is  not  bound  up 
My  people's  deadly  wound? 

O  that  my  head  were  springs^ 
Mine  eye  a  fount  of  tears  ! 
To  weep  both  day  and  night 
Over  my  people's  slain. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  these  two  quatrains  are 
cited  from  the  prophet's  elegy  upon  the  last  battle  of 
Megiddo  and  the  death  of  Josiah.  Similar  fragments 
seem  to  occur  below  (ix.  17,  18,  20)  in  the  instructions 
to  the  mourning-women,  the  professional  singers  of 
dirges  over  the  dead. 

The  beauty  of  the  entire  strophe,  as  an  outpouring 
of  inexpressible  grief,  is  too  obvious  to  require  much 
comment.  The  striking  question  *^  Is  there  no  balm  in 
Gilead,  is  there  no  physician  there  ?  "  has  passed  into 
the  common  dialect  of  religious  aphorism;  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  despairing  cry,  '*  The  harvest 
is  past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and  we  are  not  saved  I " 

The  wounds  of  the  state  are  past  healing ;  but  how, 
it  is  asked,  can  this  be?  Does  nature  yield  a  balm 
which  is  sovereign  for  bodily  hurts,  and'  is  there  no- 
where a  remedy  for  those  of  the  social  organism  ? 
Surely  that  were  something  anomalous,  strange  and 
unnatural  (cf.  viii.  7).  Is  there  no  halm  in  Gilead? 
Yes,  it  is  found  nowhere  else  (cf.  Plin.,  Hist.  Nat.y  xii. 


vii.-x., xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  187 

25  admit.  ''Sed  omnibus  odoribus  praefertur  balsamum, 
uni  terrarum  Judcece  concessum  ").  Then  has  lahvah 
mocked  us,  by  providing  a  remedy  for  the  lesser  evil, 
and  leaving  us  a  hopeless  prey  to  the  greater  ?  The 
question  goes  deep  down  to  the  roots  of  faith.  Not 
only  is  there  an  analogy  between  the  two  realms  of 
nature  and  spirit ;  in  a  sense,  the  whole  physical  world 
is  an  adumbration  of  things  unseen,  a  manifestation  of 
the  spiritual.  Is  it  conceivable  that  order  should  reign 
everywhere  in  the  lower  sphere,  and  chaos  be  the 
normal  state  of  the  higher  ?  If  our  baser  wants  are 
met  by  provisions  adapted  in  the  most  wonderful  way 
to  their  satisfaction,  can  we  suppose  that  the  nobler 
— those  cravings  by  which  we  are  distinguished  from 
irrational  creatures — have  not  also  their  satisfactions 
included  in  the  scheme  of  the  world  ?  To  suppose  it 
is  evidence  either  of  capricious  unreason,  or  of  a 
criminal  want  of  confidence  in  the  Author  of  our  being. 

Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilcad  ?  Is  there  no  healer  there  ? 
There  is  a  panacea  for  Israel's  woes — the  "  law  "  or 
teaching  of  lahvah ;  there  is  a  Healer  in  Israel,  lahvah 
Himself  (iii.  22,  xvii.  14),  who  has  declared  of  Himself, 
/  wound  and  I  heal  (Deut.  xxxii.  39;  chap.  xxx.  17, 
xxxiii.  6).  Why  then  is  no  bandage  applied  to  the 
daughter  of  my  people?  This  is  like  the  cry  of  the 
captives.  Is  lahvah  not  in  Sion,  is  not  her  King  in  her  ? 
(ver.  19).  The  answer  there  is.  Yes  !  it  is  not  that 
lahvah  is  wanting;  it  is  that  the  national  guilt  is  working 
out  its  own  retribution.  He  leaves  this  to  be  understood 
here ;  having  framed  his  question  so  as  to  compel  people, 
if  it  might  be,  to  the  right  inference  and  answer. 

The  precious  balsam  is  the  distinctive  glory  of  the 
mountain  land  of  Gilead,  and  the  knowledge  of  lahvah 
is  the  distinctive  glory  of  His  people  Israel.     Will  no 


i88  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

one,  then,  apply  the  true  remedy  to  the  hurt  of  the 
state  ?  No,  for  priests  and  prophets  and  people  know 
not — they  have  refused  to  know  lahvah  (ver.  5).  The 
nation  will  not  look  to  the  Healer  and  live.  It  is  their 
misfortunes  that  they  hate,  not  their  sins.  There  is 
nothing  left  for  Jeremiah  but  to  sing  the  funeral  song 
of  his  fatherland. 

While  weeping  over  their  inevitable  doom,  the  prophet 
abhors  with  his  whole  soul  his  people's  wickedness, 
and  longs  to  fly  from  the  dreary  scene  of  treachery 
and  deceit.  O  that  I  had  in  the  wilde^^ness  a  lodging- 
place  of  wayfaring  men — some  lonely  khan  on  a  caravan 
track,  whose  bare,  unfurnished  walls,  and  blank  almost 
oppressive  stillness,  w^ould  be  a  grateful  exchange  for 
the  luxury  and  the  noisy  riot  of  Judah's  capital — that  I 
might  leave  my  people  and  go  away  from  among  them  ! 
The  same  feeling  finds  expression  in  the  sigh  of  the 
psalmist,  who  is  perhaps  Jeremiah  himself :  O  for  the 
wings  of  a  dove  !  (Ps.  Iv.  6  sqq.)  The  same  feeling  has 
often  issued  in  actual  withdrawal  from  the  world.  And 
under  certain  circumstances,  in  certain  states  of  religion 
and  society,  the  solitary  life  has  its  peculiar  advantages. 
The  life  of  towns  is  doubtless  busy,  practical,  intensely 
real;  but  its  business  is  not  always  of  the  ennobling 
sort,  its  practice  in  the  strain  and  struggle  of  selfish 
competition  is  often  distinctly  hostile  to  the  growth 
and  play  of  the  best  instincts  of  human  nature;  its 
intensity  is  often  the  mere  result  of  confining  the 
manifold  energies  of  the  mind  to  one  narrow  channel, 
of  concentrating  the  whole  complex  of  human  powers 
and  forces  upon  the  single  aim  of  self-advancement  and 
self-glorification ;  and  its  reality  is  consequently  an 
illusion,  phenomenal  and  transitory  as  the  unsubstantial 
prizes  which  absorb  all  its  interest,  engross  its  entire 


vii.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  189 

devotion,  and  exhaust  its  whole  activity.  It  is  not 
upon  the  broad  sea,  nor  in  the  lone  wilderness,  that 
men  learn  to  question  the  goodness,  the  justice,  the 
very  being  of  their  Maker.  Atheism  is  born  in  the 
populous  wastes  of  cities,  where  human  beings  crowd 
together,  not  to  bless  but  to  prey  upon  each  other  ; 
where  rich  and  poor  dwell  side  by  side,  but  are 
separated  by  the  gulf  of  cynical  indifference  and  social 
disdain ;  where  selfishness  in  its  ugliest  forms  is 
rampant,  and  is  the  rule  of  life  with  multitudes : — the 
selfishness  which  grasps  at  personal  advantage  and  is 
deaf  to  the  cries  of  human  pain ;  the  selfishness  which 
calls  all  manner  of  fraud  and  trickery  lawful  means  for 
the  achievement  of  its  sordid  ends ;  and  the  selfishness 
of  flagrant  vice,  whose  activity  is  not  only  earthly  and 
sensual  but  also  devilish,  as  directly  involving  the 
degradation  and  ruin  of  human  souls.  '  No  wonder 
that  they  whose  eyes  have  been  blinded  by  the  god  of 
this  world,  fail  to  see  evidence  of  any  other  God ;  no 
wonder  that  they  in  whose  hearts  a  coarse  or  a  subtle 
self-worship  has  dried  the  springs  of  pity  and  love 
can  scoff  at  the  very  idea  of  a  compassionate  God  ;  no 
wonder  that  a  soul,  shaken  to  its  depths  by  the  con- 
templation of  this  bewildering  medley  of  heartlessness 
and  misery,  should  be  tempted  to  doubt  whether  there 
is  indeed  a  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  who  doeth  right. 

There  is  no  truth,  no  honour  in  their  dealings  with  one 
another  ;  falsehood  is  the  dominant  note  of  their  social 
existence  :  They  are  all  adulterers y  a  throng  of  traitors  ! 
The  charge  of  adultery  is  no  metaphor  (chap.  v.  7,  8). 
Where  the  sense  of  rehgious  sanctions  is  weakened  or 
wanting,  the  marriage  tie  is  no  longer  respected ;  and 
that  which  perhaps  lust  began,  is  ended  by  lust,  and 


190  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

man  and  woman  are  faithless  to  each  other,  because 
they  are  faithless  to  God. 

And  they  bend  their  tongue ^  their  how,  falsely}  The 
tongue  is  as  a  bow  of  which  words  are  the  arrows. 
Evildoers  '^  stretch  their  arrow,  the  bitter  word,  to 
shoot  in  ambush  at  the  blameless  man "  (Ps.  Ixiv. 
4;  cf.  Ps.  xi.  2).  The  metaphor  is  common  in  the 
language  of  poetry ;  we  have  an  instance  in  Long- 
fellow's '^  I  shot  an  arrow  into  the  air,"  and  Homer's 
familiar  eVea  irrepoevTay  "  winged  words,"  is  a  kindred 
expression.  (Others  render,  and  they  bend  their  tongue 
as  their  bow  of  falsehood,  as  though  the  term  sheqer, 
mendacium,  were  an  epithet  qualifying  the  term  for 
"bow."  I  have  taken  it  adverbially,  a  use  justified 
by  Pss.  xxxviii.  20,  Ixix.  5,  cxix.  y2>,  ^6.)  In  colloquial 
English  a  man  who  exaggerates  a  story  is  said  to 
"draw  the  long  bow." 

Their  tongue  is  a  bow  with  which  they  shoot  Hes 
at  their  neighbours,  and  it  is  not  by  truth — faithfulness, 
honour,  integrity — that  they  wax  mighty  in  the  land ; 
their  riches  and  power  are  the  fruit  of  craft  and  fraud 
and  overreaching.  As  was  said  in  a  former  discourse, 
"their  houses  are  full  of  deceit,  therefore  they  become 
great,  and  amass  wealth  "  (v.  27).  By  truth,  or  more 
literally  unto  truth,  according  to  the  rule  or  standard 
of  truth  {cL  Isa.  xxxii.  I,  "according  to  right;"  Gen. 
i.  II,  "according  to  its  kind").  With  the  idea  of  the 
verb,  we  may  compare  Ps.   cxii.   2  :  "  Mighty  in  the 

*  The  irregular  Hiphil  form  of  the  verb — cf.  I  Sam.  xiv.  22 ;  Job 
xix.  4 — may  be  justified  by  Job  xxviii.  8;  we  are  not,  therefore, 
bound  to  render  the  Masoretic  text :  and  they  make  their  tongue  bend 
their  lying  bow.  Probably,  however,  Qal  is  right,  the  Hiphil  being  due 
to  a  misunderstanding,  like  that  of  the  Targum,  "  And  they  taught 
their  tongue  words  of  lying." 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION,  191 


land  shall  his  seed  become"  (cf.  also  Gen.  vii.  18,  19). 
The  passage  chap.  v.  2,  3,  is  essentially  similar  to  the 
present,  and  is  the  only  one  besides  where  we  find 
the  term  "  by  truth  "  (n:iDiS^  k'emnnah).  The  idiom 
seems  certain,  and  the  parallel  passages,  especially 
V.  27,  appear  to  establish  the  translation  above  given ; 
otherwise  one  might  be  tempted  to  render  :  they  stretch 
their  tongue,  their  bow,  for  lying  ("ip'j^S  v.  2),  and 
it  is  not  for  truth  that  they  are  strong  in  the  land. 
"  Noblesse  oblige "  is  no  maxim  of  theirs ;  they  use 
their  rank  and  riches  for  unworthy  ends. 

For  out  of  evil  unto  evil  they  go  forth — they  go  from 
one  wickedness  to  another,  adding  sin  to  sin.  Appar- 
ently, a  military  metaphor.  What  they  have  and  are  is 
evil,  and  they  go  forth  to  secure  fresh  conquests  of  the 
same  kind.  Neither  good  nor  evil  is  stationary ;  pro- 
gress is  the  law  of  each — and  Me  they  know  not,  saith 
lahvah—ih&y  know  not  that  I  am  truth  itself,  and  there- 
fore irreconcilably  opposed  to  all  this  fraud  and  falsehood. 

Beware  ye,  every  one  of  his  companion,  and  in  no 
brother  confide  ye;  for  every  brother  will  surely  play  the 
facob, — and  every  companion  will  go  about  slandering. 
And  they  deceive  each  his  neighbour,  and  truth  they  speak 
not:  they  have  trained  their  tongue  to  speak  falsehood, 
to  pervert  (their  way,  iii.  21)  they  toil  (chap.  xx.  9;  cf 
Gen.  xix.  1 1 ).  Thine  inhabiting  is  in  the  midst  of  deceit; 
through  deceit  they  refuse  to  know  Me,  saith  lahvah 
(3-5).^     As   Micah   had    complained   before  him  (Mic. 

*  Ewald  prefers  the  reading  of  the  LXX.,  which  divides  the  words 
differently.  If  we  suppose  their  version  correct,  they  must  have 
read  :  "They  have  trained  their  tongue  to  speak  falsehood,  to  distort. 
They  are  weary  of  returning.  Oppression  in  oppression,  deceit  in 
deceit !  They  refuse  to  know  Me,  saith  lahvah,"  But  I  do  not  think 
this  an  improvement  on  the  present  Masoretic  text. 


192  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

vii.  5),  and  as  bitter  experience  had  taught  our  prophet 
(xi.  18  sqq.y  xii.  6),  neither  friend  nor  brother  was  to 
be  trusted  ;  and  that  this  was  not  merely  the  melan- 
choly characteristic  of  a  degenerate  age,  is  suggested  by 
the  reference  to  the  unbrotherly  intrigues  of  the  far-oflf 
ancestor  of  the  Jewish  people,  in  the  traditional  portrait 
of  whom  the  best  and  the  worst  features  of  the  national 
character  are  reflected  with  wonderful  truth  and  live- 
liness.^ Every  brother  will  not  fail  to  play  the  Jacob 
(Gen.  XXV.  29  sqq.,  xxvii.  36;  Hos.  xii.  4),  to  outwit, 
defraud,  supplant ;  cunning  and  trickery  will  subserve 
acquisitiveness.  But  though  an  inordinate  love  of 
acquisition  may  still  seem  to  be  specially  characteristic 
of  the  Jewish  race,  as  in  ancient  times  it  distinguished 
the  Canaanite  and  Semitic  nations  in  general,  the 
tendency  to  cozen  and  overreach  one's  neighbour  is 
so  far  from  being  confined  to  it,  that  some  modern 
ethical  speculators  have  not  hesitated  to  assume  this 
tendency  to  be  an  original  and  natural  instinct  of 
humanity.  The  fact,  however,  for  which  those  who 
would  account  for  human  nature  upon  purely  ''  natural " 
grounds  are  bound  to  supply  some  rational  explanation, 
is  not  so  much  that  aspect  of  it  which  has  been  well- 
known  to  resemble  the  instincts  of  the  lower  animals 
ever  since  observation  began,  but  the  aspect  of  revolt 
and  protest  against  those  lower  impulses  which  we 
find  reflected  so  powerfully  in  the  documents  of  the 
higher  religion,  and  which  makes  thousands  of  lives  a 
perpetual  warfare. 

Jeremiah  presents  his  picture  of  the  universal  deceit 
and    dissimulation    of    his    own    time   as    something 


'  If  Jeremiah  wrote  Ps.  Iv.,  as  Hit/jg  supposes,  he  may  be  alluding 
to  the  treachery  of  a  particular  friend  ;  cf.  Ps.  Iv,  13,  14. 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  193 

peculiarly  shocking  and  startling  to  the  common  sense 
of  right,  and  unspeakably  revolting  in  the  sight  of  God, 
the  Judge  of  all.  And  yet  the  difficulty  to  the  modern 
reader  is  to  detect  any  essential  difference  between 
human  nature  then  and  human  nature  now — between 
those  times  and  these.  It  is  still  true  that  avarice 
and  lust  destroy  natural  affection ;  that  the  ties  of 
blood  and  friendship  are  no  protection  against  a  godless 
love  of  self.  The  work  of  slander  and  misrepresenta- 
tion is  not  left  to  avowed  enemies ;  your  own  acquain- 
tance will  gratify  their  envy,  spite,  or  mere  illwill  in 
this  unworthy  way.  A  simple  child  may  tell  the  truth ; 
but  tongues  have  to  be  trained  to  expertness  in  lying, 
whether  in  commerce  or  in  diplomacy,  in  politics  or 
in  the  newspaper  press,  in  the  art  of  the  salesman  or 
in  that  of  the  agitator  and  the  demagogue.  Men  still 
make  a  toil  of  perverting  their  way,  and  spend  as  much 
pains  in  becoming  accomplished  villains  as  honest 
folk  take  to  excel  in  virtue.  Deceit  is  still  the  social 
atmosphere  and  environment,  and  through  deceit  men 
refuse  to  know  lahvah.  The  knowledge,  the  recognition, 
the  steady  recollection  of  what  lahvah  is,  and  what 
His  law  requires,  does  not  suit  the  man  of  lies ;  his 
objects  oblige  him  to  shut  his  eyes  to  the  truth.  Men 
do  not  will  and  will  not,  to  know  the  moral  impediments 
that  lie  in  the  way  of  self-seeking  and  self-pleasing. 
Sinning  is  always  a  matter  of  choice,  not  of  nature, 
nor  of  circumstances  alone.  To  desire  to  be  delivered 
from  moral  evil  is,  so  far,  a  desire  to  know  God. 

Thine  inhabiting  is  in  the  midst  of  deceit:  who  that 
ever  lifts  an  eye  above  the  things  of  time,  has  not  at 
times  felt  thus  ?  '^  This  is  a  Christian  country." 
Why  ?  Because  the  majority  are  as  bent  on  self- 
pleasing,  as  careless  of  God,  as  heartlessly  and  system- 

13 


194  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

atically  forgetful  of  the  rights  and  claims  of  others, 
as  they  would  have  been  had  Christ  never  been  heard 
of?  A  Christian  country?  Why?  Is  it  because  we 
can  boast  of  some  two  hundred  forms  or  fashions  of 
supposed  Christian  belief,  differentiated  from  each  other 
by  heaven  knows  what  obscure  shibboleths,  which  in  the 
lapse  of  time  have  become  meaningless  and  obsolete ; 
while  the  old  ill-will  survives,  and  the  old  dividing  lines 
remain,  and  Christians  stand  apart  from  Christians  in  a 
state  of  dissension  and  disunion  that  does  despite  and 
dishonour  to  Christ,  and  must  be  very  dear  to  the  devil  ? 
Some  people  are  bold  enough  to  defend  this  horrible 
condition  of  things  by  raising  a  cry  of  Free  Trade  in 
Religion.  But  religion  is  not  a  trade,  not  a  thing 
to  make  a  profit  of,  except  with  Simon  Magus  and  his 
numerous  followers  both  inside  and  outside  of  the 
Church. 

A  Christian  country  I  But  the  rage  of  avarice,  the 
worship  of  Mammon,  is  not  less  rampant  in  London 
than  in  old  Jerusalem.  If  the  more  violent  forms  of 
oppression  and  extortion  are  restrained  among  us  by 
the  more  complete  organization  of  public  justice,  the 
fact  has  only  developed  new  and  more  insidious  modes 
of  attack  upon  the  weak  and  the  unwary.  Deceit  and 
fraud  have  been  put  upon  their  mettle  by  the  challenge 
of  the  law,  and  thousands  of  people  are  robbed  and 
plundered  by  devices  which  the  law  can  hardly  reach 
or  restrain.  Look  where  the  human  spider  sits,  weav- 
ing his  web  of  guile,  that  he  may  catch  and  devour 
men  I  Look  at  the  wonderful  baits  which  the  company- 
monger  throws  out  day  by  day  to  human  weakness 
and  cupidity  !  Do  you  call  him  shrewd  and  clever  and 
enterprising  ?  It  is  a  sorry  part  to  play  in  Hfe,  that  of 
Satan's  decoy,  tempting  one's  fellow-creatures  to  their 


vii.-x.  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE   RELIGION.  195 

ruin.  Look  at  the  lying  advertisements,  which  meet 
your  eyes  wherever  you  turn,  and  make  the  streets  of 
this  great  city  almost  as  hideous  from  the  point  of  view 
of  taste  as  from  that  of  morality  !  What  a  degrading 
resource  !  To  get  on  by  the  industrious  dissemination 
of  lies,  by  false  pretences,  which  one  knows  to  be  false  ! 
And  to  trade  upon  human  misery — to  raise  hopes  that 
can  never  be  fulfilled—  to  add  to  the  pangs  of  disease 
the  smart  of  disappointment  and  the  woe  of  a  deeper 
despair,  as  countless  quacks  in  this  Christian  country 
do! 

A  Christian  country :  where  God  is  denied  on  the 
platform  and  through  the  press ;  where  a  novel  is 
certain  of  widespread  popularity,  if  its  aim  be  to  under- 
mine the  foundations  of  the  Christian  faith;  where 
atheism  is  mistaken  for  intelligence,  and  an  inconsistent 
Agnosticism  for  the  loftiest  outcome  of  logic  and  reason  ; 
where  flagrant  lust  walks  the  streets  unrebuked,  un- 
abashed ;  where  every  other  person  you  meet  is  a 
gambler  in  one  form  or  another,  and  shopmen  and 
labourers  and  loafers  and  errand  boys  are  all  eager 
about  the  result  of  races,  and  all  agog  to  know  the 
forecasts  of  some  wily  tipster,  some  wiseacre  of  the 
halfpenny  press  1 

A  Christian  country  :  where  the  rich  and  noble  have 
no  better  use  for  profuse  wealth  than  horse-training, 
and  no  more  elevating  mode  of  recreation  than  hunting 
and  shooting  down  innumerable  birds  and  beasts ; 
where  some  must  rot  in  fever-dens,  clothed  in  rags, 
pining  for  food,  stifling  for  lack  of  air  and  room ;  while 
others  spend  thousands  of  pounds  upon  a  whim,  a 
banquet,  a  party,  a  toy  for  a  fair  woman.  I  am  not  a 
Socialist ;  I  do  not  deny  a  man's  right  to  do  what  he 
will  with  his  own,  and  I  believe  that  state  interference 


196  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

would  be  in  the  last  degree  disastrous  to  the  country. 
But  I  affirm  the  responsibility  before  God  of  the  rich 
and  great ;  and  I  deny  that  they  who  live  and  spend  for 
themselves  alone  are  worthy  of  the  name  of  Christian. 

A  Christian  country :  where  human  beings  die,  year 
after  year,  in  the  unspeakable,  unimaginable  agonies  of 
canine  madness,  and  dogs  are  kept  by  the  thousand  in 
crowded  cities,  that  the  sacrifice  to  the  fiend  of  selfish- 
ness and  the  mocking  devil  of  vanity  may  never  lack 
its  victims !  There  is  a  more  than  Egyptian  worship 
of  Anubis,  in  the  silly  infatuation  which  lavishes  tender- 
ness upon  an  unclean  brute,  and  credulously  invests 
instinct  with  the  highest  attributes  of  reason ;  and  there 
is  a  worse  than  heathenish  besottedness  in  the  heart 
that  can  pamper  a  dog,  and  be  utterly  indifferent  to 
the  helplessness  and  the  sufferings  of  the  children  of 
the  poor.  And  people  will  go  to  church,  and  hear  what 
the  preacher  has  to  say,  and  ^'  think  he  said  what  he 
ought  to  have,  said/'  or  not,  as  the  case  may  be,  and 
return  to  their  own  settled  habits  of  worldly  living,  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Oh  yes  !  it  is  a  Christian  country — 
the  name  of  Christ  has  been  named  in  it  for  fifteen 
centuries  past ;  and  for  that  reason  Christ  will  judge  it. 

Therefore^  thus  said  lahvah  Sabaoth :  Lo^  I  am  about 
to  melt  them  and  put  them  to  pjvo/Qoh  xii.  1 1 ;  Judg.  xvil 
4 ;  ch.  vi.  25.)  ;  for  how  am  I  to  deal  in  face  of  [the 
wickedness  of  LXX :  the  term  has  fallen  out  of  the 
Heb.  text:  of.  iv.  4,  vii.  12]  the  daughter  of  My  people? 
This  is  the  meaning  of  the  disasters  that  have  fallen 
and  are  even  now  falling  upon  the  country.  lahvah 
will  melt  and  assay  this  rough,  intractable  human  ore, 
in  the  fiery  furnace  of  affliction  ;  the  strain  of  insincerity 
that  runs  through  it,  the  base  earthy  nature,  can  only 


vu.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND  TRUE  RELIGION.  197 

thus  be  separated  and  purged  away  (Isa.  xlviii.  10). 
A  deadly  arrow  [LXX.  a  wounding  one,  i-e.,  one  which 
does  not  miss,  but  hits  and  kills]  is  their  tongue;  deceit 
it  spake :  with  his  mouth  peace  with  his  companion  he 
speaketh,  and  inwardly  he  layefh  his  ambush  (Ps.  Iv.  22). 
The  verse  again  specifies  the  wickedness  complained 
of,  and  justifies  our  restoration  of  that  word  in  the 
previous  verse. 

Perhaps,  with  the  Peshito  Syriac  and  the  Targum, 
we  ought  rather  to  render :  a  sharp  arrow  is  their  tongue. 
There  is  an  Arabic  saying  quoted  by  Lane,  "  Thou 
didst  sharpen  thy  tongue  against  us,"  which  seems  to 
present  a  kindred  root  ^  (cf.  Ps.  lii.  3,  Ivii.  4 ;  Prov. 
XXV.  18).  The  Septuagint  may  be  right,  with  its 
probable  reading :  deceit  are  the  words  of  his  mouth. 
This  certainly  improves  the  symmetry  of  the  verse. 

For  such  things  (emphatic)  shall  I  not — or  should 
I  not,  with  an  implied  ought — shall  I  not  punish  them, 
saith  lahvahy  or  on  such  a  nation  shall  not  My  soul 
avenge  herself?  (v.  9,  29,  after  which  the  LXX.  omits 
them  here.)  These  questions,  like  the  previous  one, 
How  am  I  to  deal — or,  how  could  I  act — in  face  of  the 
wickedness  of  the  daughter  of  My  people  ?  imply  the 
moral  necessity  of  the  threatened  evils.  If  lahweh  be 
what  He  has  taught  man's  conscience  that  He  is, 
national  sin  must  involve  national  suffering,  and  national 
persistence  in  sin  must  involve  national  ruin.  There- 
fore He  will  melt  and  try  this  people,  both  for  their 
punishment  and  their  reformation,  if  it  may  be  so. 
For  punishment  is  properly  retributive,  whatever  may 
be  alleged  to  the  contrary.     Conscience  tells  us  that  we 


*  Shahadhta  lisdnaka  'alaina.    In  this  case,  we  should  follow  the 
Heb.  margin  or  Q're. 


198  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

deserve  to  suffer  for  ill-doing,  and  conscience  is  a  better 
guide  than  ethical  or  sociological  speculators  who  have 
lost  faith  in  God.  But  God's  chastisements  as  known 
to  our  experience,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  present  life,  are 
reformatory  as  well  as  retributive ;  they  compel  us  to 
recollect,  they  bring  us,  like  the  Prodigal,  back  to 
ourselves,  out  of  the  distractions  of  a  sinful  career, 
they  humble  us  with  the  discovery  that  we  have  a 
Master,  that  there  is  a  Power  above  ourselves  and  our 
apparently  unlimited  capacity  to  choose  evil  and  to  do 
it :  and  so  by  Divine  grace  we  may  become  contrite  and 
be  healed  and  restored. 

The  prophet  thus,  perhaps,  discerns  a  faint  glimmer 
of  hope,  but  his  sky  darkens  again  immediately.  The 
land  is  already  to  a  great  extent  desolate,  through  the 
ravages  of  the  invaders,  or  through  severe  droughts 
(cf.  iv.  25,  viii.  2o(?),  xii.  4).  Upon  the  mountains 
will  I  lift  up  weeping  and  wailing^  and  upon  the  pastures 
of  the  prairie  a  lamentation^  for  they  have  been  burnt  up 
(ii.  1 5  ;  2  Kings  xxii.  1 3),  so  that  no  man  passeth  over 
them,  and  they  have  not  heard  the  cry  of  the  cattle :  from 
the  birds  of  the  air  to  the  beasts,  they  are  fled,  are  gone 
(iv.  25).  The  perfects  may  be  prophetic  and  announce 
what  is  certain  to  happen  hereafter.  The  next  verse, 
at  all  events,  is  unambiguous  in  this  respect :  And  I 
will  make  Jerusalem  into  heaps,  a  haunt  of  jackals ;  and 
the  cities  of  Judah  will  I  make  a  desolation  without  in- 
habitant. Not  only  the  country  districts,  but  the 
fortified  towns,  and  Jerusalem  itself,  the  heart  and 
centre  of  the  nation,  will  be  desolated.  Sennacherib 
boasts  that  he  took  forty-six  strong  cities,  and  ''little 
towns  without  number,"  and  carried  off  200,150  male 
and  female  captives,  and  an  immense  booty  in  cattle, 
before  proceeding  to   invest  Jerusalem  itself;  a  state- 


vii.-x., xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  199 

which  shews  how  severe  the  sufferings  of  Judah  might 
be,  before  the  enemy  struck  at  its  vitals. 

In  the  words  /  will  make  Jerusalem  heaps^  there  is 
not  necessarily  a  change  of  subject.  Jeremiah  was 
authorized  to  "  root  up  and  pull  down  and  destroy  "  in 
the  name  of  lahvah. 

He  now  challenges  the  popular  wise  men  (viii.  8,  9) 
to  account  for  what,  on  their  principles,  must  appear 
an  inexplicable  phenomenon.      Who  is  the  (true)  wise 
many  so  that  he  understands  this  (Hos.  xiv.  9),  and  who 
is  he  to  whom  the  mouth  of  lahvah  hath  spoken,  so  that 
he  can  explain  it  [tmtoyou?  LXX.].      Why  is  the  land 
undone,  burnt  up  like  the  prairie,  without  a  passer  by? 
Both  to  Jeremiah  and  to  his  adversaries  the  land  was 
lahvah's  land;  what  befel  it  must  have  happened  by 
His  will,  or  at  least  with  His  consent.     Why  had  He 
suffered  the  repeated   ravages   of  foreign  invaders    to 
desolate  His  own  portion,  where,  if  anywhere  on  earth. 
He  must  display  His  power  and  the  proof  of  His  deity  ? 
Not  for  lack  of  sacrifices,  for  these  were  not  neglected. 
Only  one  answer  was  possible,  to  those  who  recognised 
the  validity  of  the  Book  of  the  Law,  and  the  binding 
character  of  the    covenant  which   it   embodied.     The 
people   and    their   wise   men    cannot   account  for  the 
national  calamities ;  Jeremiah  himself  can  only  do  so, 
because  he  is  inwardly  taught  by  lahvah  himself  (ver. 
12)  :  And  lahvah  said.     It  may  be  supposed  that  ver. 
II   states   the  popular  dilemma,  the  anxious  question 
which  they  put  to  the  ofiicial  prophets,  whose  guidance 
they  accepted.     The  prophets  could  give  no  reasonable 
or  satisfying  answer,   because  their   teaching  hitherto 
had  been  that  lahvah  could  be  appeased  ^'with  thou- 
sands of  rams,  and  ten  thousand  torrents  of  oil "  (Mic. 
vi.  7;.     On  such  conditions  they  had  promised  peaco, 


200  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


and  their  teaching  had  been  falsified  by  events.  There- 
fore Jeremiah  gives  the  true  answer  for  lahvah.  But 
why  did  not  the  people  cease  to  believe  those  whose 
word  was  thus  falsified  ?  Perhaps  the  false  prophets 
would  reply  to  objectors,  as  the  refugees  in  Egypt 
answered  Jeremiah's  reproof  of  their  renewed  worship 
of  the  Queen  of  Heaven :  '*  It  was  in  the  years  that 
followed  the  abolition  of  this  worship  that  our  national 
disasters  began"  (xliv.  i8).  It  is  never  difficult  to 
delude  those  whose  evil  and  corrupt  hearts  make  them 
desire  nothing  so  much  as  to  be  deluded. 

And  lahvah  said:  Because  they  forsook  (lit.  upon= 
on  account  of  their  forsaking)  '^  My  Law  which  I  set 
before  them  "  (Deut.  iv.  1 8),  and  they  hearkened  not  unto 
My  voice  (Deut.  xxviii.  15),  and  walked  not  therein  (in 
My  Law ;  LXX.  omits  the  clause) ;  and  walked  after  the 
obstinacy  of  their  own  {evil:  LXX.)  heart,  and  after  the 
Baals  (Deut.  iv.  3)  which  their  fathers  taught  them — 
instead  of  teaching  them  the  laws  of  lahvah  (Deut.  xi. 
19).  Such  were,  and  had  always  been,  the  terms  of  the 
answer  of  lahvah's  true  prophets.  Do  you  ask  upon 
what  ground  (^al  mah)  misfortune  has  overtaken  you? 
Upon  the  ground  of  your  having  forsaken  lahvah's 
"  law  "  or  instruction,  His  doctrine  concerning  Himself 
and  your  consequent  obligations  towards  Him.  They 
had  this  teaching  in  the  Book  of  the  Law,  and  had 
solemnly  undertaken  to  observe  it,  in  that  great  national 
assembly  of  the  eighteenth  year  of  Josiah.  And  they 
had  had  it  from  the  first  in  the  Hving  utterances  of 
the  prophets. 

This,  then,  is  the  reason  why  the  land  is  waste  and 
deserted.  And  therefore — because  past  and  present 
experience  is  an  index  of  the  future,  for  lahvah's 
character  and  purpose  are  constant — therefore  the  deso- 


vii.-x., xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  201 


lation  of  the  cities  of  Judah  and  of  Jerusalem  itself,  will 
ere  long  be  accomplished.  Therefore  thus  said  lahvah 
Sabaoth,  the  God  of  Armies  and  the  God  of  Israel;  Lo^ 
I  am  about  to  feed  them — or,  /  continue  to  feed  them — to 
wit,  this  people  (an  epexegetical  gloss  omitted  by  the 
LXX.)  with  wormwood^  and  I  will  give  them  to  drink  waters 
of  gall  (Deut.  xxix.  17.  An  Israelite  inclining  to  foreign 
gods  is  ^'  a  root  bearing  wormwood  and  gall  " — bearing  a 
bitter  harvest  of  defeat,  a  cup  of  deadly  disaster  for  his 
people  ;  cf.  Am.  vi.  12),  and  I  will  '^scatter  them  among 
the  nations"  ^^  whom  they  and  their  fathers  knew  not" 
(Deut.  xxviii.  36,  64).  The  last  phrase  is  remarkable 
as  evidence  of  the  isolation  of  Israel,  whose  country  lay 
off  the  beaten  track  between  the  Trans-Euphratean 
empires  and  Egypt,  which  ran  along  the  sea-coast. 
They  knew  not  Assyria,  until  Tiglath  Pileser's  interven- 
tion (circ.  734),  nor  Babylon  till  the  times  of  the  New- 
Empire.  In  Hezekiah's  day,  Babylon  is  still  "a.  far 
country"  (2  Kings  xx.  14).  Israel  was  in  fact  an 
agricultural  people,  trading  directly  with  Phenicia  and 
Egypt,  but  not  with  the  lands  beyond  the  Great  River. 
The  prophets  heighten  the  horror  of  exile  by  the 
strangeness  of  the  land  whither  Israel  is  to  be  banished. 

And  I  will  send  after  them  the  sword^  until  I  have  con- 
sumed them.  The  survivors  are  to  be  cut  off  (cf.  viii. 
3);  there  is  no  reserve,  as  in  iv.  27,  v.  10,  18;  a 
"  full  end  "  is  announced  ;  which,  again,  corresponds  to 
the  aggravation  of  social  and  private  evils  in  the  time 
of  Jehoiakim,  and  the  prophet's  despair  of  reform. 

The  judgment  of  Judah  is  the  ruin  of  her  cities,  the 
dispersion  of  her  people  in  foreign  lands,  and  exter- 
mination by  the  sword.  Nothing  is  left  for  this  doomed 
nation  but  to  sing  its  funeral  song;  to  send  for  the 
professional  wailing  women,  that  they  may  come  and 


202  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

chant  their  dirges,  not  over  the  dead  but  over  the  Uving 
who  are  condemned  to  die :  Thus  said  lahvah  Sabaoth 
(here  as  in  ver.  6,  LXX.  omits  the  expressive  Sabaoih), 
Mark  ye  well  the  present  crisis,  and  what  it  impHes  (cf. 
ii,  10;  LXX.  wrongly  omits  this  emphatic  term),  and  sum- 
mon the  women  that  sing  dirges^  that  they  come,  and  unto 
the  skilful  women  send  ye j  that  they  come  [LXX.  omits], 
and  hasten  [LXX.  and  speak  and']  to  lift  up  the  death-wail 
over  us,  that  our  eyes  may  run  down  with  tears,  and  our 
eyelids  pour  down  waters.  The  "  singing  women  "  of 
2  Chron.  xxxv.  25,  or  the  '^  minstrels"  of  St.  Matt.  ix.  23, 
are  intended.  The  reason  assigned  for  thus  inviting 
them  assumes  that  the  prophet's  forecast  is  already 
fulfilled.  Already,  as  in  viii.  19,  Jeremiah  hears  the 
loud  wailing  of  the  captives  as  they  are  driven  away 
from  their  ruined  homes  :  For  the  sound  of  the  death-wail 
is  heard  from  Sion,  "  How  are  we  undone  !  We  are  sore 
ashamed  ^^ — of  our  false  confidence  and  foolish  security 
and  deceitful  hopes — "/or,  after  all,  we  have  left  the  land, 
for  our  dwellings  have  cast  (us)  out/"  The  last  two 
hues  appear  to  be  parallels,  which  is  against  the  ren- 
dering, For  men  have  cast  down  our  dwellings.  Cf. 
Lev.  xviii.  25  ;  chap.  xxii.  28.  From  the  wailing 
w^omen,  the  address  now  seems  to  turn  to  the  Judean 
wom.en  generally;  but  perhaps  the  former  are  still 
intended,  as  their  peculiar  calling  was  probably  here- 
ditary and  passed  on  from  mother  to  daughter :  For 
hear,  ye  wcmen,  the  word  of  lahvah,  and  let  your  ear  take 
in  the  word  of  His  mouth  !  and  teach  ye  your  daughters 
the  death-wail,  and  each  her  companion  the  lamentation;  for 

"  Death  scales  our  lattices^ 
Enters  otir  palaces, 
To  cut  off  hoy  without, 
The  young  meiifrojn  the  streets'* 


vii.-A.,xxvi.\    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  203 

And  the  corpses  of  men  will  fall — the  tense  certifies  the 
future  reference  of  the  others — like  dung  (viii.  2)  on 
the  face  of  the  field  {2  Kings  ix.  37,  of  Jezebel's  corpse) — 
left  without  burial  rites  to  rot  and  fatten  the  soil — and 
like  the  corn-swath  behind  the  reaper,  and  none  shall 
gather  {them).  The  quatrain  (ver.  20)  is  possibly 
quoted  from  some  familiar  elegy ;  and  the  allusion 
seems  to  be  to  a  mysterious  visitation  like  the  plague, 
which  used  to  be  known  in  Europe  as  "the  Black 
Death  "  (cf.  xv.  2,  xviii.  21,  xliii.  ii).  In  this  time  of 
closed  gates  and  barred  doors,  death  is  repiesented  as 
entering  the  house,  not  by  the  door,  but  ''  climbing  up 
some  other  way  "  like  a  thief  (Joel  ii.  9 ;  St.  John  x.  i). 
Bars  and  bolts  will  be  futile  against  such  an  invader. 
The  figure  is  not  continued  in  the  second  half  of  the 
stanza.^  The  point  of  the  closing  comparison  seems 
to  be  that  whereas  the  corn-swaths  are  gathered  up  in 
sheaves  and  taken  home,  the  bodies  will  lie  where  the 
reaper  Death  cuts  them  down. 

Thus  said  lahvah :  Let  not  a  wise  man  glory  in  his 
wisdom,  and  let  not  the  mighty  man  glory  m  his  might ! 
Let  not  a  rich  man  glory  in  his  riches,  but  in  this  let  him 
glory  that  glorieth,  in  being  prudent  and  knowing  Me 
(LXX.  omits  pronoun,  cf  Gen.  i.  4),  that  I,  lahvah,  do 
lovingkindness  (and:  LXX.  and  Orientals),  justice  and 
righteousness  upon  the  earth  ;  for  in  these  I  delight,  saith 
Lahvah. 

It  is  not  easy,  at  first  sight,  to  see  the  connexion 
of  this,  one  of  the  finest  and  deepest  of  Jeremiah's 
oracles,  with  the  sentence  of  destruction  which  pre- 
cedes it.     It  is  not  satisfactory  to  regard  it  as  stating 

*  Speak  ihou,  Thus  saith  lahweh,  is  undoubtedly  a  spurious  addition, 
and  does  not  appear  in  the  LXX.  Jeremiah  never  says  Koh  ne'um 
lahvah,  and  never  uses  the  imperative  dabber  ! 


204  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

"  the  only  means  of  escape  and  the  reason  why  it  is 
not  used"  (the  latter  being  set  forth  in  vv.  24,  25); 
for  the  leading  idea  of  the  whole  composition,  from 
vii.  13  to  ix.  22,  is  that  retribution  is  coming,  and 
no  escape,  not  even  that  of  a  remnant,  is  contemplated. 
The  passage  looks  like  an  appendix  to  the  previous 
pieces,  such  as  the  prophet  might  have  added  at  a  later 
period  when  the  crisis  was  over,  and  the  country  had 
begun  to  breathe  again,  after  the  shock  of  invasion  had 
rolled  away.  And  this  impression  is  confirmed  by  its 
contents.  We  have  no  details  about  the  first  interfer- 
ence of  the  new  Chaldean  power  in  Judah ;  we  only 
read  that  in  Jehoiakim's  days  Nebuchadrezzar  the  king 
of  Babylon  came  up,  and  Jehoiakim  became  his  servant 
three  years :  then  he  turned  and  rebelled  against  him  (2 
Kings  xxiv.  i).  But  before  this,  for  some  two  or  three 
years,  Jehoiakim  was  the  vassal  of  the  king  of  Egypt 
to  whom  he  owed  his  crown,  and  Nebuchadrezzar  had 
to  reduce  Necho  before  he  could  attend  to  Jehoiakim. 
It  may  be,  therefore,  that  the  worst  apprehensions  of 
the  time  not  having  been  realized,  in  the  year  or  two 
of  lull  which  followed,  the  politicians  of  Judah  began  to 
boast  of  their  foresight  and  the  caution  and  sagacity  of 
their  measures  for  the  public  safety,  instead  of  ascribing 
the  respite  to  God ;  the  warrior  class  might  vaunt  the 
bravery  which  it  had  exhibited  or  intended  to  exhibit 
in  the  service  of  the  country;  and  the  rich  nobles 
might  exult  in  the  apparent  security  of  their  treasures 
and  the  new  lease  of  enjoyment  accorded  to  themselves. 
To  these  various  classes,  who  would  not  be  slow  to 
ridicule  his  dark  forebodings  as  those  of  a  moody  and 
unpatriotic  pessimist  (xx.  7,  xxvi.  il,  xxix.  26, 
xxxvii.  13),  Jeremiah  now  speaks,  to  remind  them  that 
if  the  danger  is  over  for  the  present,  it  is  the  loving- 


vii.-x.,x>Lvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  205 

kindness  and  the  righteous  government  of  lahvah 
which  has  removed  it,  and  to  declare  that  it  is  only 
suspended  and  postponed,  not  abolished  for  ever : 
Behold^  days  are  coming,  saith  lahvah,  when  I  will  visit 
(his  guilt)  upon  every  one  that  is  circumcised  in  foreskin 
(only,  and  not  in  heart  also) :  upon  Egypt  and  upon 
Jiidah,  and  upon  Edam  and  upon  the  bene  Ammon  and 
upon  Moab,  and  upon  all  the  tonsured  folk  that  dwell  in 
the  wddcrness :  For  all  the  nations  are  uncircumcised, 
and  all  the  house  of  Israel  are  uncirciinicised  in  heart. 
Egypt  is  mentioned  first,  as  the  leading  nation,  to 
which  at  the  time  the  petty  states  of  the  west  looked 
for  help  in  their  struggle  against  Babylon  (cf.  xxvii. 
3).  The  prophet  numbers  Judah  with  the  rest,  not 
only  as  a  member  of  the  same  political  group,  but  as 
standing  upon  the  same  level  of  unspiritual  life.  Like 
Israel,  Egypt  also  practised  circumcision,  and  both  the 
context  here  requires  and  their  kinship  with  the 
Hebrews  makes  it  probable  that  the  other  peoples 
mentioned  observed  the  same  custom  (Herod.,  ii.  36, 
104),  which  is  actually  portrayed  in  a  wall-painting  at 
Karnak.  The  "  tonsured  folk "  or  "  cropt-heads "  of 
the  wilderness  are  north  Arabian  nomads  like  the 
Kedarenes  (xHx.  28,  32),  and  the  tribes  of  Dedan, 
Tema  and  Buz  (xxv.  23),  whose  ancestor  was  the 
circumcised  Ishmael  (Gen.  xxv.  13  sqq.,  xvii.  23). 
Herodotus  records  their  custom  of  shaving  the  temples 
all  round,  and  leaving  a  tuft  of  hair  on  the  top  of  the 
head  (Herod.,  iii.  8),  which  practice,  like  circumcision, 
had  a  religious  significance,  and  was  forbidden  to  the 
Israelites  (Lev.  xix.  2^,  xxi.  5). 

Now  why  does  Jeremiah  mention  circumcision  at 
all?  The  case  is,  I  think,  parallel  to  his  mention  of 
another  external^distinction  of  the  popular  religion,  the 


2o6  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 


Ark  of  the  Covenant  (iii.  15).     Just  as  in  that  place 

God  promises  shepherds  according  to  Mine  heart  which 
shall  shepherd  the  restored  Israel  with  knowledge  and 
prudence,  and  then  directly  adds  that,  in  the  light  and 
truth  of  those  days,  the  ark  will  be  forgotten  (iii. 
15,  16);  so  here,  he  bids  the  ruling  classes,  the  actual 
shepherds  of  the  nation,  not  to  trust  in  their  own 
wisdom  or  valour  or  wealth  (cf.  xvii.  5  ^^^O*  ^^^  '^^ 
being  prudent  and  knowing  lahvah,  and  then  adds  that 
the  outward  sign  of  circumcision,  upon  which  the 
people  prided  themselves  as  the  mark  of  their  dedica- 
tion to  lahvah,  was  in  itself  of  no  value,  apart  from 
a  "  circumcised  heart,"  i.e.,  a  heart  purified  of  selfish 
aims  and  devoted  to  the  will  and  glory  of  God  (iv.  4). 
So  far  as  lahvah  is  concerned,  all  Judah's  heathen 
neighbours  are  uncircumcised,  in  spite  of  their  ob- 
servance of  the  outward  rite.  The  Jews  themselves 
would  hardly  admit  the  validity  of  heathen  circumcision, 
because  the  manner  of  it  was  different,  just  as  at  this 
day  the  Muhammadan  method  differs  from  the  Jewish. 
But  Jeremiah  puts  ''  all  the  house  of  Israel,"  who  were 
circumcised  in  the  orthodox  manner,  on  a  level  with 
the  imperfectly  circumcised  heathen  peoples  around 
them.  All  alike  are  uncircumcised  before  God ;  those 
who  have  the  orthodox  rite,  and  those  who  have  but 
an  inferior  semblance  of  it ;  and  all  ahke  will  in 
the  day  of  judgment  be  visited  for  their  sins  (cf. 
Amos  i.). 

With  the  increasing  carelessness  of  moral  obliga- 
tions, an  increasing  importance  would  be  attached  to 
the  observance  of  such  a  rite  as  circumcision,  which 
was  popularly  supposed  to  devote  a  man  to  lahvah 
in  such  sense  that  the  tie  was  indissoluble.  Jeremiah 
says  plainly  that  this  is  a  mistaken  view.     The  outward 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  207 

sign  must  have  an  inward  and  spiritual  grace  corre- 
sponding thereto  ;  else  the  Judeans  are  no  better  than 
those  whose  circumcision  they  despise  as  defective. 
His  meaning  is  that  of  the  Apostle,  ^'Circumcision 
verily  profiteth,  if  thou  keep  the  law;  but  if  thou  be 
a  breaker  of  law,  thy  circumcision  hath  become  uncir- 
cumcision  "  (Rom.  ii.  25).  "  Circumcision  is  nothing, 
and  uncircumcision  is  nothing,  hut  the  keeping  of  the 
commandments  of  God"  scil.  is  everything  (l  Cor. 
vii.  19).  It  is  ''  faith  working  by  love,"  it  is  the  "  new 
creature "  that  is  essential  in  spiritual  religion  (Gal. 
v.  6,  vi.  15). 

Hcec  dicit  Dominus  :  Non  glorietur  sapiens  in  sapientia 
sua.  Glancing  back  over  the  whole  passage,  we  dis- 
cern an  inward  relation  between  these  verses  and  the 
preceding  discourse.  It  is  not  the  outward  props  of 
state-craft,  and  strong  battalions,  and  inexhaustible 
wealth,  that  really  and  permanently  uphold  a  nation ; 
not  these,  but  the  knowledge  of  lahvah,  a  just  insight 
into  the  true  nature  of  God,  and  a  national  life  regu- 
lated in  all  its  departments  by  that  insight.  At  the 
outset  of  this  third  section  of  his  discourse  (ix.  3-6), 
Jeremiah  declared  that  corrupt  Israel  knew  not  and 
refused  to  know  its  God.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
entire  piece  (vii.  3  sq.),  he  urged  his  countrymen  to 
amend  their  ways  and  their  doings,  and  not  go  on 
trusting  in  lying  words  and  doing  the  opposite  of  loving- 
kindness  and  justice  and  righteousness,  which  alone  are 
pleasing  to  lahvah  (Mic.  vi.  8),  Who  delighteth  in 
lovingkindness  and  not  sacrifice,  and  in  the  knowledge 
of  God  more  than  in  burnt- offerings  (Hos.  vi.  6).  And 
just  as  in  the  opening  section  the  sacrificial  worship 
was  disparaged,  taken  as  an  ''  opus  operatum,"  so  here 
at  the  close  circumcision  is  declared  to  have  no  inde- 


2o8  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


pendent  value  as  a  means  of  securing  Divine  favour 
(ix.  25).  Thus  the  entire  discourse  is  rounded  off  by 
the  return  of  the  end  to  the  beginning ;  and  the  main 
thought  of  the  whole,  which  Jeremiah  has  developed 
and  enforced  with  so  much  variety  of  feeling  and 
oratorical  and  poetical  ornament,  is  the  eternally  true 
thought  that  a  service  of  God  which  is  purely 
external  is  no  service  at  all,  and  that  rites  without 
a  loving  obedience  are  an  insult  to  the  Majesty  of 
Heaven. 

X.  17-25.  The  latter  part  of  chap.  x.  resumes  the 
subject  suspended  at  ix.  22.  It  evidently  contemplates 
the  speedy  departure  of  the  people  into  banishment. 
Away  out  of  the  land  with  thy  pack  (or  thy  goods  ;  LXX. 
L'7rocrTacrt9, '' property,"  Targ.  "merchandise,"  the  Heb. 
term,  which  is  related  to  "  Canaan,"  occurs  here  only), 
O  thou  that  stttest  in  distress  !  (or  abidest  in  the  siege  : 
Hi.  5  ;  2  Kings  xxiv.  10).  Sion  is  addressed,  and  bidden 
to  prepare  her  scanty  bundle  of  bare  necessaries  for 
the  march  into  exile.  So  Egypt  is  bidden  to  "  make 
for  herself  vessels  of  exile,"  xlvi.  19.  Some  think  that 
Sion  is  warned  to  withdraw  her  goods  from  the  open 
country  to  the  protection  of  her  strong  walls,  before 
the  siege  begins,  as  in  viii.  14;  but  we  have  passed 
that  stage  in  the  development  of  the  piece,  and  the 
next  verse  seems  to  shew  the  meaning  :  For  thus  hath 
lahvah  saidj  La,  I  am  about  to  sling  forth  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  land  this  time — as  opposed  to  former  occa- 
sions, when  the  enemy  retired  unsuccessful  (2  Kings 
xvi.  5,  xix.  36),  or  went  off  satisfied  with  plunder 
or  an  indemnity,  like  the  Scythians  (see  also  2  Kings 
xiv.  14) — and  I  will  distress  them  that  they  may  find 
out  the  truth,  which  now  they  refuse  to  see. .  The 
aposiopesis  that  they  may  find  out !  is   very  striking. 


vii.-x.,  xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  209 

The  Vulgate  renders  the  verb  in  the  passive  :  "  Tribu- 
labo  eos  ita  ut  inveniantur."  This,  however,  does  not 
give  so  good  a  sense  as  the  Masoretic  pointing,  and 
Ewald's  reference  of  the  term  to  the  goods  of  the 
panic-stricken  fugitives  seems  flat  and  tasteless  ("  the 
inhabitants  of  the  land  will  this  time  ....  not  be 
able  to  hide  their  goods  from  the  enemy  !  *').  The  best 
comment  on  the  phrase  is  supplied  by  a  later  oracle : 
Zo,  /  am  about  to  make  them  know  this  time — /  will 
make  them  know  My  hand  and  My  might;  that  they  may 
know  that  My  name  is  lahvah  (xvi.  21).  Cf.  also 
xvii.  9;  Eccles.  viii.  17. 

The  last  verse  (17)  resembles  a  poetical  quotation; 
and  this  one  looks  like  the  exphcation  of  it.  There 
the  population  is  personified  as  a  woman;  here  we 
have  instead  the  plain  prose  expression,  ''inhabitants 
of  the  land."  The  figurative,  "  I  will  sling  them  forth  " 
or  "cast  them  out,"  explains  the  bidding  of  Sion  to 
pack  up  her  bundle  or  belongings — there  seems  to  be 
a  touch  of  contempt  in  this  isolated  word,  as  much  as 
to  signify  that  the  people  must  go  forth  into  exile  with 
no  more  of  their  possessions  than  they  can  carry  like 
a  beggar  in  a  bundle.  The  expression,  "  I  will  distress 
them,"  seems  to  shew  that  "  thou  that  sittest  in  the 
distress  "  is  proleptic,  or  to  be  rendered  "  thou  that  art 
to  sit  in  distress,"  which  comes  to  the  same  thing. 

And  now  the  prophet  imagines  the  distress  and  the 
remorse  of  this  forlorn  mother,  as  it  will  manifest 
itself  when  her  house  is  ruined  and  her  children  are 
gone  and  she  realizes  the  folly  of  the  past  (cf. 
iv.  30-— 

"  Woe's  me  for  my  wound  t 
Fatal  IS  my  stroke  / 

14 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  /EREMIAH 


(perhaps  quoted  from  a  familiar  elegy).  And  yet  I — 
/  thought  (chap.  xxii.  21  ;  Ps.  xxx.  7),  Only  this — no 
more  than  this — is  my  sickness:  I  can  bear  it !  (ni  "^j? 
JN^X  **^n  ;  LXX.  croi;,  Vulg.  mea^.  The  people  had 
never  fully  realized  the  threatenings  of  the  prophets, 
until  they  began  .  to  be  accomplished.  When  they 
heard  them,  they  had  said,  half-in credulously,  half- 
mockingly,  Is  that  all?  Their  false  guides,  too,  had 
treated  apparent  danger  as  a  thing  of  little  moment, 
assuring  them  that  their  half  reforms,  and  zealous 
outward  worship,  were  sufficient  to  turn  away  the 
Divine  displeasure  (vi.  14).  And  so  they  said  to 
themselves,  as  sinners  are  still  in  the  habit  of  saying, 
*'  If  the  worst  come  to  the  worst,  I  can  bear  it.  Be- 
sides, God  is  merciful,  and  things  may  turn  out  better 
for  frail  humanity  than  your  preachers  of  wrath  and 
woe  predict.  Meanwhile — I  shall  do  as  I  please,  and 
take  my  chance  of  the  issue." 

The  lament  of  the  mourning  mother  continues :  My 
tent  is  laid  waste  and  all  my  cords  are  broken  ;  My  sons 
went  forth  of  me  (to  battle)  and  are  not;  There  is  none 
to  spread  my  tent  any  more^  And  to  set  up  my  curtains 
(cf  Amos  ix.  11).  Overhearing,  as  it  were,  this 
sorrowful  lamentation  {qinah)^  the  prophet  interposes 
with  the  reason  of  the  calamity  :  For  the  shepherds 
became  brutish  or  behaved  foolishly,  stulte  egerunt  (Vulg.) 
— the  leaders  of  the  nation  shewed  themselves  as  in- 
sensate and  silly  as  cattle — and  lahvah  they  sought  not 
(ii.  8)  ;  Therefore — as  they  had  no  regard  for  Divine 
counsel — they  dealt  not  wisely  (iii.  15,  ix.  23,  xx.  ii), 
and  all  their  flock  was  scattered  abroad. 

Once  more,  and  for  the  last  time,  the  prophet  sounds 
the  alarm :  Hark !  a  rumour !  lo,  it  cometh !  and  a 
great  uproar  from  the  land  of  the  north ;  to  make  the 


vii.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND  TRUE  RELIGION.  211 

cities  of  Judah  a  desolation,  a  haunt  of  jackals  I  It  is 
not  likely  that  the  verse  is  to  be  regarded  as  spoken 
by  the  mourning  country ;  she  contemplates  the  evil 
as  already  done,  v^rhereas  here  it  is  only  imminent 
(cf.  iv.  6,  vi.  22,  i.  15).  The  piece  concludes  with  a 
prayer  (vv.  23-25),  which  may  be  considered  either  as 
an  intercession  by  the  prophet  on  behalf  of  the  nation 
(cf  xviii.  20),  or  as  a  form  of  supplication  which  he 
suggests  as  suitable  to  the  existing  crisis.  /  know, 
lahvah,  that  man's  way  is  not  his  own;  That  it  pertaineth 
not  to  a  man  to  walk  and  direct  his  own  steps :  Correct 
me,  lahvah,  but  with  justice ;  Not  in  Thine  anger,  lest 
Thou  make  me  small!  (Partly  quoted,  Ps.  vi.  I, 
xxxviii.  I.)  Pour  out  Thv  fury  upon  the  nations  that 
know  Thee  not,  And  upon  tribes  that  have  not  called  upon 
Thy  name;  For  they  have  devoured  Jacob  [and  will 
devour  hint],  [and  consumed  hini],  and  his  pasture  they 
have  desolated  I  (Ps.  Ixxix.  6,  7,  quoted  from  this  place. 
In  Jer.  the  LXX.  omits  *'  and  will  devour  him ; " 
while  the  psalm  omits  both  of  the  bracketed  ex- 
pressions.) 

The  Vulgate  renders  ver.  23 :  "  Scio,  Domine,  quia 
non  est  hominis  via  ejus  ;  nee  viri  est  ut  ambulet,  et 
dirigat  gressus  suos."  I  think  this  indicates  the  correct 
reading  of  the  Hebrew  text  (P5\!\^?n;  cf.  ix.  23,  where 
two  infinitives  absolute  are  used  in  a  similar  way).  The 
Septuagint  also  must  have  had  the  same  text,  for  it 
translates,  ^'nor  will  (=can)  a  man  walk  and  direct  his 
own  walking."  The  Masoretic  punctuation  is  certainly 
incorrect;  and  the  best  that  can  be  made  of  it  is 
Hitzig's  version,  which,  however,  disregards  the  accents, 
although  their  authority  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  vowel 
points  :  /  know  lahvah  that  not  to  man  belongeth  his 
way,  not  to  a  perishing  (Ut.  *' going,"  "departing")  man 


212  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

— and  to  direct  his  steps.  Any  reader  of  Hebrew  may 
see  at  once  that  this  is  a  very  unusual  form  of  ex- 
pression. (For  the  thought,  cf.  Pro  v.  xvi.  9,  xix.  21 ; 
Ps.  xxxvii.  23.) 

The  words  express  humble  submission  to  the  im- 
pending chastisement.  The  penitent  people  does  not 
deprecate  the  penalty  of  its  sins,  but  only  prays  that 
the  measure  of  it  may  be  determined  by  right  rather 
than  by  wrath  (cf.  xlvi.  27,  28).  The  very  idea  of 
right  and  justice  implies  a  limit,  whereas  wrath,  like  all 
passions,  is  without  limit,  blind  and  insatiable.  "  In 
the  Old  Testament,  justice  is  opposed,  not  to  mercy^ 
but  to  high-handed  violence  and  oppression,  which 
recognise  no  law  but  subjective  appetite  and  desire. 
The  just  man  owns  the  claims  of  an  objective  law 
of  right." 

Non  est  hominis  ma  ejus.  Neither  individuals  nor 
nations  are  masters  of  their  own  fortunes  in  this  world. 
Man  has  not  his  fate  in  his  own  hands ;  it  is  controlled 
and  directed  by  a  higher  Power.  By  sincere  submis- 
sion, by  a  glad,  unswerving  loyalty,  w^hich  honours 
himself  as  well  as  its  Object,  man  may  co-operate  with 
that  Power,  to  the  furtherance  of  ends  which  are  of  all 
possible  ends  the  wisest,  the  loftiest,  the  most  bene- 
ficial to  his  kind.  Self-will  may  oppose  those  ends,  it 
cannot  thwart  them  ;  at  the  most  it  can  but  momentarily 
retard  their  accomplishment,  and  exclude  itself  from  a 
share  in  the  universal  blessing, 

Israel  now  confesses,  by  the  mouth  of  his  best  and 
truest  representative,  that  he  has  hitherto  loved  to 
choose  his  own  path,  and  to  walk  in  his  own  strength, 
without  reference  to  the  will  and  way  of  God.  Now, 
the  overwhelming  shock  of  irresistible  calamit};  has 
brought  him  to   his  senses,  has   revealed  to  him  his 


vii.-x.,xxvi.]    POPULAR  AND   TRUE  RELIGION.  213 

powerlessness  in  the  hands  of  the  Unseen  Arbiter  of 
events,  has  made  him  see,  as  he  never  saw,  that  mortal 
man  can  determine  neither  the  vicissitudes  nor  the  goal 
of  his  journey.  Now  he  sees  the  folly  of  the  mighty 
man  glorying  in  his  might,  and  the  rich  man  glorying 
in  his  riches  ;  now  he  sees  that  the  how  and  the  whither 
of  his  earthly  course  are  not  matters  within  his  own 
control ;  that  all  human  resources  are  nothing  against 
God,  and  are  only  helpful  when  used  for  and  zvith  God. 
Now  he  sees  that  the  path  of  life  is  not  one  which  we 
enter  upon  and  traverse  of  our  own  motion,  but  a  path 
along  which  we  are  led  ;  and  so,  resigning  his  former 
pride  of  independent  choice,  he  humbly  prays,  ^'Lead 
Thou  me  on  ! "  Lead  me  whither  Thou  wilt,  in  the 
way  of  trouble  and  disaster  and  chastisement  for  my 
sins ;  but  remember  my  human  frailty  and  weakness, 
and  let  not  Thy  wrath  destroy  me  !  Finally,  the 
suppliant  ventures  to  remind  God  that  others  are 
guilty  as  well  as  he,  and  that  the  ruthless  destroyers 
of  Israel  are  themselves  fitted  to  be  objects  as  well 
as  instruments  of  Divine  justice.  They  are  such  (i) 
because  they  have  not  "  known "  nor  "  called  upon  " 
lahvah ;  and  (ii)  because  they  have  '^  devoured  Jacob  " 
who  was  a  thing  consecrated  to  lahvah  (ii.  3),  and 
therefore  are  guilty  of  sacrilege  (cf.  1.  28,  29). 

It  has  never  been  our  lot  to  see  our  own  land  over- 
run by  a  barbarous  invader,  our  villages  burnt,  our 
peasantry  slaughtered,  our  towns  taken  and  sacked 
with  all  the  horrors  permxitted  or  enjoined  by  a  non- 
Christian  religion.  We  read  of  but  hardly  realize  the 
atrocities  of  ancient  warfare.  If  we  did  realize  them, 
we  might  even  think  a  saint  justified  in  praying  for 
vengeance  upon  the  merciless  destroyers  of  his  country. 
But   apart  from  this,  I  see  a  deeper  meaning  in  this 


214  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

prayer.  The  justice  of  this  terrible  visitation  upon 
Judah  is  admitted  by  the  prophet.  Yet  in  Judah  many 
righteous  were  involved  in  the  general  calamity.  On 
the  other  hand,  Jeremiah  knew  something  of  the  vices 
of  the  Babylonians,  against  which  his  contemporary 
Habakkuk  inveighs  so  bitterly.  They  ''  knew  not "  nor 
"  called  upon  "  lahvah ;  but  a  base  polytheism  reflected 
and  sanctioned  the  corruption  of  their  lives.  A  kind 
of  moral  dilemma,  therefore,  is  proposed  here.  If 
the  purpose  of  this  outpouring  of  Divine  wrath  be  to 
bring  Israel  to  "find  out"  (ver.  i8)  and  to  acknow- 
ledge the  truth  of  God  and  his  own  guiltiness,  can 
wrath  persist,  when  that  result  is  attained  ?  Does 
not  justice  demand  that  the  torrent  of  destruction  be 
diverted  upon  the  proud  oppressor  ?  So  prayer,  the 
forlorn  hope  of  poor  humanity,  strives  to  overcome 
and  compel  and  prevail  with  God,  and  to  wrest  a 
blessing  even  from  the  hand  of  Eternal  Justice. 


VI. 


THE  IDOLS  OF  THE  HEATHEN  AND   THE  GOD 
OF  ISRAEL. 

JEREMIAH  X.   I-I6. 

THIS  fine  piece  is  altogether  isolated  from  the 
surrounding  context,  which  it  interrupts  in  a 
very  surprising  manner.  Neither  the  style  nor  the 
subject,  neither  the  idioms  nor  the  thoughts  expressed 
in  them,  agree  with  what  we  easily  recognise  as  Jere- 
miah's work.  A  stronger  contrast  can  hardly  be 
imagined  than  that  which  exists  between  the  leading 
motive  of  this  oracle  as  it  stands,  and  that  of  the  long 
discourse  in  which  it  is  embedded  with  as  little  regard 
for  continuity  as  an  aerolite  exhibits  when  it  buries 
itself  in  a  plain.  In  what  precedes,  the  prophet's 
fellow-countrymen  have  been  accused  of  flagrant  and 
defiant  idolatry  (vii.  17  sqq.^  30  sqq,)]  the  opening 
words  of  this  piece  imply  a  totally  different  situation. 
To  the  way  of  the  nations  become  not  accustomed^  and  of 
the  signs  of  heaven  be  not  afraid;  for  the  nations  are 
afraid  of  them}  Jeremiah  would  not  be  likely  to  warn 
inveterate  apostates  not  to  ''  accustom  themselves  "  to 
idolatry.  The  words  presuppose,  not  a  nation  whose 
idolatry  was  notorious,  and  had  just  been  the  subject 

>  LXX.  "for  they  are  afraid  before  them,"  \  DH-JS^  HDH  inn^  O. 


2i6  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

of  unsparing  rebuke  and  threats  of  imminent  destruc- 
tion ;  they  presuppose  a  nation  free  from  idolatry,  but 
exposed  to  temptation  from  surrounding  heathenism. 
The  entire  piece  contains  no  syllable  of  reference  to 
past  or  present  unfaithfulness  on  the  part  of  Israel. 
Here  at  the  outset,  and  throughout,  Israel  is  implicitly 
contrasted  with  '*  the  nations  "  (ra  Wvi])  as  the  servant 
of  lahvah  with  the  foolish  worshippers  of  Hfeless  gods. 
There  is  a  tone  of  contempt  in  the  use  of  the  term 
goyim — "To  the  way  of  the  goyi'm  accustom  not  your- 
selves ...  for  the  goyim  are  afraid  of  them  "  (of  the 
signs  of  heaven);  or  as  the  Septuagint  puts  it  yet 
more  strongly,  "  for  they  (the  besotted  goyim)  are  afraid 
{i.e.y  worship)  before  them  ;"  as  though  that  alone — the 
sense  of  Israel's  superiority — should  be  sufficient  to 
deter  Israelites  from  any  bowings  in  the  house  of 
Rimmon.^  Neither  this  contemptuous  use  of  the  term 
goyim,  "  Gentiles,"  nor  the  scathing  ridicule  of  the  false 
gods  and  their  devotees,  is  in  the  manner  of  Jeremiah. 
Both  are  characteristic  of  a  later  period.  The  biting 
scorn  of  image-worship,  the  intensely  vivid  perception 
of  the  utter  incommensurableness  of  lahvah,  the  Creator 
of  all  things,  with  the  handiwork  of  the  carpenter  and 
the  silversmith,  are  well-known  and  distinctive  features 
of  the  great  prophets  of  the  Exile  (see  especially 
Isa.  xl.-lxvi.).  There  are  plenty  of  allusions  to  idolatry 
in  Jeremiah ;  but  they  are  expressed  in  a  tone  of  fervid 
indignation,  not  of  ridicule.  It  was  the  initial  offence, 
which  issued  in  a  hopeless  degradation  of  public  and 
private  morality,  and  would  have  for  its  certain  conse- 
quence the  rejection  and  ruin  of  the  nation  (ii.  5-13, 
20-28,  iii.   1-9,  23  sqq.).     All  the  disasters,  past  and 

*  This  is  the  most  natural  interpretation  of  the  passage  according  to 
the  Hebrew  punctuation.     Another  is  given  below. 


K.I-I6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD.  217 


present,  which  had  befallen  the  country,  were  due  to 
it  (vii.  9,  17  sqq.,  30  sqq.,  viii.  2  etc.).  The  people  are 
urged  to  repent  and  return  to  lahvah  with  their  whole 
heart  (iii.  12  sqq.^  iv.  3  sqq.,  v.  21  sqq.^  vi.  8),  as  the  only 
means  of  escape  from  deadly  peril.  The  Baals  are 
things  that  cannot  help  or  save  (ii.  8,  ii);  but  the 
prophet  does  not  say,  as  here  (x.  5),  "  Fear  them  not ; 
they  cannot  harm  you  ! "  The  piece  before  us  breathes 
not  one  word  about  Israel's  apostasy,  the  urgent  need 
of  repentance,  the  impending  ruin.  Taken  as  a  whole, 
it  neither  harmonizes  with  Jeremiah's  usual  method  of 
argument,  nor  does  it  suit  the  juncture  of  affairs  implied 
by  the  language  which  precedes  and  follows  (vii.  i- 
ix.  26,  X.  17-25).  For  let  us  suppose  that  this 
oracle  occupies  its  proper  place  here,  and  was  actually 
written  by  Jeremiah  at  the  crisis  which  called  forth  the 
preceding  and  following  utterances.  Then  the  warning 
cry,  "  Be  not  afraid  of  the  signs  of  heaven  !  "  can  only 
mean  "  Be  not  afraid  of  the  Powers  under  whose 
auspices  the  Chaldeans  are  invading  your  country ; 
lahvah,  the  true  and  living  God,  will  protect  you  I " 
But  consolation  of  this  kind  would  be  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  doctrine  which  Jeremiah  shares  with  all 
his  predecessors ;  the  doctrine  that  lahvah  Himself  is 
the  prime  cause  of  the  coming  trouble,  and  that  the 
heathen  invaders  are  His  instruments  of  wrath  (v.  9  5^., 
vi.  6) ;  it  would  imply  assent  to  that  fallacious  confi- 
dence in  lahvah,  which  the  prophet  has  already  done 
his  utmost  to  dissipate  (vi.  14,  vii.  4  5^.). 

The  details  of  the  idolatry  satirized  in  the  piece 
before  us  point  to  Chaldea  rather  than  to  Canaan.  We 
have  here  a  zealous  worship  of  wooden  images  over- 
laid and  otherwise  adorned  with  silver  and  gold,  and 
robed  in  rich  garments  of  violet  and  purple  (cf  Josh. 


2i8  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

vii.  2i).  This  does  not  agree  with  what  we  know  of 
Judean  practice  in  Jeremiah's  time,  when,  besides  the 
worship  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  the  people  adored 
"stocks  and  stones;"  probably  the  wooden  symbols 
of  the  goddess  Asherah  and  rude  sun-pillars,  but  hardly 
works  of  the  costly  kind  described  in  the  text,  which 
indicate  a  wealthy  people  whose  religion  reflected  an 
advanced  condition  of  the  arts  and  commerce.  The 
designation  of  the  objects  of  heathen  worship  as  "  the 
signs  of  heaven,"  and  the  gibe  at  the  custom  of  carrying 
the  idol-statues  in  procession  (Isa.  xlvi.  I,  7),  also  point 
us  to  Babylon,  "  the  land  of  graven  images "  (1.  38), 
and  the  home  of  star-worship  and  astrological  super- 
stition (Isa.  xlvii.  13). 

From  all  these  considerations,  it  would  appear  that 
not  Israel  in  Canaan  but  Israel  in  Chaldea  is  addressed 
in  this  piece  by  some  unknown  prophet,  whose  leaflet 
has  been  inserted  among  the  works  of  Jeremiah.  In 
that  case,  the  much  disputed  eleventh  verse,  written  in 
Aramaic,  and  as  such  unique  in  the  volume  of  the  pro- 
phets proper,  may  really  have  belonged  to  the  original 
piece.  Aramaic  was  the  common  language  of  inter- 
course between  East  and  West  both  before  and  during 
the  captivity  (cf.  2  Kings  xviii.  26) ;  and  the  suggestion 
that  the  tempted  exiles  should  answer  in  this  dialect 
the  heathen  who  pressed  them  to  join  in  their  worship, 
seems  suitable  enough.  The  verse  becomes  very  sus- 
picious, if  we  suppose  that  the  whole  piece  is  really 
part  and  parcel  of  Jeremiah's  discourse,  and  as  such 
addressed  to  the  Judeans  in  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim. 
Ewald,  who  maintains  this  view  upon  grounds  that 
cannot  be  called  convincing,  thinks  the  Aramaic  verse 
was  originally  a  marginal  annotation  on  verse  15,  and 
suggests  that  it  is  a  quotation  from  some  early  book 


X.  i-i6.]     HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAELS  GOD.  219 

similar  to  the  book  of  Daniel.  At  all  events,  it  is 
improbable  that  the  verse  proceeded  from  the  pen  of 
Jeremiah,  who  writes  Aramaic  nowhere  else,  not  even 
in  the  letter  to  the  exiles  of  the  first  Judean  captivity 
(chap.  xxix.). 

But  might  not  the  piece  be  an  address  which  Jeremiah 
sent  to  the  exiles  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  who  were  settled 
in  Assyria,  and  with  whom  it  is  otherwise  probable 
that  he  cultivated  some  intercourse?  The  expression 
''House  of  IsraeV*  (ver.  i)  has  been  supposed  to 
indicate  this.  That  expression,  however,  occurs  in 
the  immediately  preceding  context  (ix.  26),  as  does 
also  that  of  ''  the  nations  " ;  facts  which  may  partially 
explain  why  the  passage  we  are  discussing  occupies 
its  present  position.  The  unknown  author  of  the 
Apocryphal  Letter  of  Jeremiah  and  the  Chaldee  Tar- 
gumist  appear  to  have  held  the  opinion  that  Jeremiah 
wrote  the  piece  for  the  benefit  of  the  exiles  carried 
away  with  Jehoiachin  in  the  first  Judean  captivity. 
The  Targum  introduces  the  eleventh  verse  thus  :  "  This 
is  a  copy  of  the  letter  which  Jeremiah  the  prophet 
pent  to  the  remnant  of  the  elders  of  the  captivity  which 
was  in  Babylon.  And  if  the  peoples  among  whom  ye 
are  shall  say  unto  you.  Fear  the  Errors,  O  house  of 
Israel !  thus  shall  ye  answer  and  thus  shall  ye  say 
unto  them  :  The  Errors  whom  ye  fear  are  (but)  errors, 
in  which  there  is  no  profit :  they  from  the  heavens 
are  not  able  to  bring  down  rain,  and  from  the  earth 
they  cannot  make  fruits  to  spring  :  they  and  those  who 
fear  them  will  perish  from  the  earth,  and  will  be  brought 
to  an  end  from  under  these  heavens.  And  thus  shall 
ye  say  unto  them  ;  We  fear  Him  that  maketh  the  earth 
by  His  power,"  etc.  (ver.  12).  The  phrase  "  the  remnant 
of  the  elders  of  the  captivity  which  was  (or  who  were) 


220  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

in  Bahylon^^  is  derived  from  Jer.  xxix.  I.  But  how 
utterly  different  are  the  tone  and  substance  of  that 
message  from  those  of  the  one  before  us  I  Far  from 
warning  his  captive  countrymen  against  the  state- 
worship  of  Babylon,  far  from  satirizing  its  absurdity, 
Jeremiah  bids  the  exiles  be  contented  in  their  new 
home,  and  to  pray  for  the  peace  of  the  city.  The  false 
prophets  who  appear  at  Babylon  prophesy  in  lahvah's 
name  (vv.  15,  21),  and  in  denouncing  them  Jeremiah 
says  not  a  word  about  idolatry.  It  is  evident  from 
the  whole  context  that  he  did  not  fear  it  in  the  case 
of  the  exiles  of  Jehoiachin's  captivity.  (See  also  the 
simile  of  the  Good  and  Bad  Figs,  chap,  xxiv.,  which 
further  illustrates  the  prophet's  estimation  of  the  earlier 
body  of  exiles.) 

The  Greek  Epistle  of  Jeremiah,  which  in  MSS,  is 
sometimes  appended  to  Baruch,  and  which  Fritzsche 
refers  to  the  Maccabean  times,  appear  to  be  partially 
based  upon  the  passage  we  are  considering.  Its 
heading  is  :  ''  Copy  of  a  letter  which  Jeremiah  sent 
unto  those  who  were  about  to  be  carried  away  captives 
to  Babylon,  by  the  king  of  the  Babylonians  ;  to  announce 
to  them  as  was  enjoined  him  by  God."  It  then  begins 
thus  :  "  On  account  of  your  sins  which  ye  have  sinned 
before  God  ye  will  be  carried  away  to  Babylon  as 
captives  by  Nabuchcdonosor  king  of  the  Babylonians. 
Having  come,  then,  into  Babylon,  ye  will  be  there 
many  years,  and  a  long  time,  until  seven  generations ; 
but  after  this  I  will  bring  you  forth  from  thence  in 
peace.  But  now  ye  will  see  in  Babylon  gods,  silvern 
and  golden  and  wooden,  borne  upon  shoulders,  shewing 
fear  (an  object  of  fear)  to  the  nations.  Beware  then, 
lest  ye  also  become  like  unto  the  nations,  and  fear 
take  you  at  them,  when  ye  see  a  multitude  before  and 


X.I-I6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD.  221 

behind  them  worshipping  them.     But    say  ye  in   the 
mind  :  Thee  it  behoveth  us  to  worship,  O  Lord  I     For 
Mine  angel  is  with  you,  and  He  is  requiring  your  Uves." 
The  whole  epistle  is  well  worth  reading  as  a  kind  of 
paraphrase  of  our  passage.     "  For  their  tongue  is  carven 
(or  polished)  by  a  carpenter,  and  themselves  are  over- 
laid with  gold  and  silver,  but  lies  they  are  and  they 
cannot  speak."     "  They   being  cast  about  with  purple 
apparel  have  their  face  wiped  on  account  of  the  dust 
from  the  house,  which  is  plentiful  upon  them"  (13). 
''  But  he  holds  a  dagger  with  right  hand  and  an  axe, 
but  himself  from  war  and  robbers  he  will  not  (=  cannot) 
deliver''  (15),  cf  Jer.  x.  15.     ^'  He  is  like  one  of  the  house- 
beams"  (20,  cf  Jer.   X.   8,  and   perhaps   5).     "Upon 
their  body  and  upon  their  head  alight  bats,  swallows, 
and  the  birds,  likewise  also  the  cats ;  whence  ye  will 
know   that    they   are  not   gods;  therefore   fear   them 
not"  (cf.  Jer.  x.  5).     ''At  all  cost  are  they  purchased, 
in  which  there  is  no  spirit"  (25;  cf   Jer.   x.   9,   14). 
'^Footless,   upon  shoidders  they  are   carried,   displaying 
their  own  dishonour  to  men  "  (26).     "  Neither  if  they 
suffer  evil  from  any  one,  nor  if  good,  will  they  be  able 
to   recompense"   (34;    cf.    ver.    5).      ''But   they   that 
serve  them  will  be  ashamed"  (39;  cf  ver.   14).     "By 
carpenters    and    goldsmiths   are   they   prepared;   they 
become  nothing  but  what  the  craftsmen  wish  them  to 
become.     And   the  very  men  that  prepare  them  can- 
not last  long;  how  then  are   the  things  prepared  by 
them  likely  to  do  so  ?  for  they  left  lies  and  a  reproach 
to  them  that  come  after.     For  whenever  war  and  evils 
come  upon  them,  the  priests  consult  together  where 
to  hide  with  them.     How  then  is  it  possible  not  to 
perceive    that   they  are   not   gods,   who   neither   save 
themselves  from  war  nor  from  evils  ?     For  being  of 


222  THE  PROPHECIES  QF  JEREMIAH. 

wood  and  overlaid  with  gold  and  silver  they  will  be 
known  hereafter,  that  they  are  lies.  To  all  the  nations 
and  to  the  kings  it  will  be  manifest  that  they  are  not 
gods  but  works  of  men's  hands,  and  no  work  of  God 
is  in  them"  (45-51;  cf.  Jer.  x.  14-15).  ^' A  wooden 
pillar  in  a  palace  is  more  useful  than  the  false  gods" 
(59).  ^^  Signs  among  nations  they  will  not  shew  in 
heaven^  nor  yet  will  they  shine  like  the  sun,  nor  give 
light  as  the  moon"  (6']).  ^^ For  as  a  scarecrow  in  a 
cucumber-bed  guarding  nothing,  so  their  gods  are  wooden 
and  overlaid  with  gold  and  with  silver^'  (70 ;  cf.  Jer. 
x:  5).  The  mention  of  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  the 
lightning,  the  wind,  the  clouds,  and  fire  '^sent  forth 
from  above,"  as  totally  unlike  the  idols  in  "  forms  and 
powers,"  seems  to  shew  that  the  author  had  verses 
12,   13  before  him. 

When  we  turn  to  the  Septuagint,  we  are  immediately 
struck  by  its  remarkable  omissions.  The  four  verses 
6-8  and  lO  do  not  appear  at  all  in  this  oldest  of  the 
versions ;  while  the  ninth  is  inserted  between  the  first 
clause  and  the  remainder  of  the  fifth  verse.  Now,  on 
the  one  hand,  it  is  just  the  verses  which  the  LXX. 
translates,  which  both  in  style  and  matter  contrast 
so  strongly  with  Jeremiah's  authentic  work,  and  are 
plainly  incongruous  with  the  context  and  occasion; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  omitted  verses  contain 
nothing  which  points  positively  to  another  author  than 
Jeremiah,  and,  taken  by  themselves,  harmonise  very 
well  with  what  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  the 
prophet's  feeling  at  the  actual  juncture  of  affairs. 

"  There  is  none  at  all  like  Thee,  O  lahvah  1 
Great  art  Thou,  and  great  is  Thy  Name  in  might  I 
Who  should  not  fear  Thee,  O  King  of  the  nations?  for'tis  Thy 
due 


X.I- 1 6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD.  223 

For  among  all  the  wise  of  the  nations  and  in  all  their  kingdom 

there  is  none  at  all  like  Thee. 
And  in  one  thing  they  are  brute-like  and  dull ; 
In  the  doctrine  of  Vanities,  which  are  wood  I 
But  lahvah  Elohim  is  truth ; 
He  is  a  living  God,  and  an  eternal  King : 
At  His  wrath  the  earth  quaketh. 
And  nations  abide  not  His  indignation." 

As  Hitzig  has  observed,  it  is  natural  that  now,  as 
the  terrible  decision  approaches,  the  prophet  should 
seek  and  find  comfort  in  the  thought  of  the  all-over- 
shadowing greatness  of  the  God  of  Israel.  If,  however, 
we  suppose  these  verses  to  be  Jeremiah's,  we  can 
hardly  extend  the  same  assumption  to  verses  12-16, 
in  spite  of  one  or  two  expressions  of  his  which  occur 
in  them ;  and,  upon  the  whole,  the  linguistic  argument 
seems  to  weigh  decisively  against  Jeremiah's  authorship 
of  this  piece  (see  Naegelsbach). 

It  may  be  true  enough  that  "  the  basis  and  possibility 
of  the  true  prosperity  and  the  hope  of  the  genuine 
community  are  unfolded  in  these  strophes"  (Ewald) ; 
but  that  does  not  prove  that  they  belong  to  Jeremiah. 
Nor  can  I  see  much  force  in  the  remark  that  "  didactic 
language  is  of  another  kind  than  that  of  pure  pro- 
phecy." But  when  the  same  critic  affirms  that  "  the 
description  of  the  folly  of  idolatry  ...  is  also  quite 
new,  and  clearly  serves  as  a  model  for  the  much  more 
elaborate  ones,  Isa.  xl.  19-24  (20),  xli.  7,  xHv.  8- 
20,  xlvi.  5-7;"  he  is  really  giving  up  the  point  in 
dispute.  Verses  12-16  are  repeated  in  the  prophecy 
against  Babylon  (li.  15-19);  but  this  hardly  proves 
that  "  the  later  prophet,  chap.  1.  li.,  found  all  these  words 
in  our  piece;"  it  is  only  evidence,  so  far  as  it  gots, 
for  those  verses  themselves. 

The    internal    connexion   which    Ewald   assumes,   is 


224  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


not  self-evident.  There  is  no  proof  that  *'  the  thought 
that  the  gods  of  the  heathen  might  again  rule  "  occurred 
for  one  moment  to  Jeremiah  on  this  occasion  ;  nor  the 
thought  that  ^'  the  maintenance  of  the  ancient  true 
religion  in  conflict  with  the  heathen  must  produce  the 
regeneration  of  Israel.*'  There  is  no  reference  through- 
out the  disputed  passage  to  the  spiritual  condition  of 
the  people,  which  is,  in  fact,  presupposed  to  be  good; 
and  the  return  in  verses  17-25  "to  the  main  subject 
of  the  discourse"  is  inexplicable  on  Ewald's  theory 
that  the  whole  chapter,  omitting  verse  II,  is  one  homo- 
geneous structure. 

Hear  ye  the  word  that  lahvah  spake  upon  you^  O  house 
of  Israel!  Thus  said  lahvah.  The  terms  imply  a 
particular  crisis  in  the  history  of  Israel,  when  a  Divine 
pronouncement  was  necessary  to  the  guidance  of  the 
people.  lahvah  speaks  indeed  in  all  existence  and  in 
all  events,  but  His  voice  becomes  audible,  is  recognised 
as  His,  only  when  human  need  asserts  itself  in  some 
particular  juncture  of  affairs.  Then,  in  view  of  the 
actual  emergency,  the  mind  of  lahweh  declares  itself 
by  the  mouth  of  His  proper  spokesmen ;  and  the 
prophetic  Thus  said  lahvah  contrasts  the  higher  point 
of  view  with  the  lower,  the  heavenly  and  spiritual  with 
the  earthly  and  the  carnal ;  it  sets  forth  the  aspect  of 
things  as  they  appear  to  God,  in  the  sharpest  antithesis 
to  the  aspect  of  things  as  they  appear  to  the  natural 
unilluminated  man.  Thus  said  lahvah  :  This  is  the 
thought  of  the  Eternal,  this  is  His  judgment  upon 
present  conditions  and  passing  events,  v/hatever  your 
thought  and  your  judgment  may  happen  or  incHne  to 
be !  Such,  I  think,  is  the  essential  import  of  this  vox 
soknniSf  this  customary  formula  of  the  dialect  of 
prophecy. 


X.I-I6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD,  22-; 

On  the  present  occasion^  the  crisis  in  view  of  which 
a  prophet  declares  the  mind  of  lahvah  is  not  a  political 
emergency  but  a  religious  temptation.      The  day  for 
the  former  has  long  since  passed  away,  and  the  depressed 
and   scattered   communities   of   exiled    Israelites    are 
exposed  among  other  trials  to  the  constant  temptation 
to   sacrifice  to  present  expediency  the  only  treasure 
which  they  have  saved  from  the  wreck  of  their  country, 
the  faith  of  their  fathers,  the  religion  of  the  prophets. 
The  uncompromising  tone  of  this  isolated  oracle,  the 
abruptness  with   which  the  writer  at  once  enters  in 
medias  res,  the  solemn  emphasis  of  his  opening  impera- 
tives,   proves    that    this    danger   pressed    at    the   time 
with  peculiar  intensity.     T/ms  said  lahvah :   Unto  the 
way  of  the  nations  use  not  yourselves,  And  of  the  signs 
of  heave7t  stand  not  in  awe,  for  that  the  nations  stand  in 
awe  of  them  /  (cf.  Lev.  xviii.   3 ;  Ezek.  xx.   1 8).     The 
"way"  of  the  nations  is  their  religion,  the  mode  and 
manner  of  their  worship  (v.  4,  5) ;  and  the  exiles  are 
warned  not  to  suffer  themselves  to   be  led  astray  by 
example,   as   they  had   been  in   the    land  of  Canaan; 
they   are   not   to   adore  the   signs   of  heaven,  simply 
because  they  see  their  conquerors  adoring  them.     The 
"signs  of  heaven"  would  seem  to  be  the  sun,  moon 
and    stars,    which   were    the    objects    of    Babylonian 
worship;    although  the  passage  is  unhappily  not  free 
from  ambiguity.     Some   expositors  have  preferred  to 
think    of  celestial    phenomena    such    as   eclipses    and 
particular  conjunctions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  which' 
in    those    days    were   looked   upon    as  portents,   fore- 
shadowing the  course  of  national  and  individual  fortunes. 
That   there   is   really  a  reference    to   the   astrological 
observation  of  the  stars,  is  a  view  which  finds  con- 
siderable support  in  the  words  addressed  to  Babylon 

IS 


226  THE  PROPHECIES   OF  JEREMIAH. 

on  the  eve  of  her  fall,  by  a  prophet,  who,  if  not  identical 
was  at  least  contemporary  with  him  whose  message  we 
are  discussing.  In  the  forty-seventh  chapter  of  the 
book  of  Isaiah,  it  is  said  to  Babylon  :  "  Let  now  them 
that  parcel  out  the  heavens,  that  gaze  at  the  stars, 
arise  and  save  thee,  prognosticating  month  by  month 
the  things  that  will  come  upon  thee"  (Isa.  xlvii.  13). 
The  signs  of  heaven  are,  in  this  case,  the  supposed 
indications  of  coming  events  furnished  by  the  varying 
appearances  of  the  heavenly  bodies ;  and  one  might 
even  suppose  that  the  immediate  occasion  of  our 
prophecy  was  some  eclipse  of  the  sun  or  moon,  or 
some  remarkable  conjunction  of  the  planets  which  at 
the  time  was  exciting  general  anxiety  among  the  motley 
populations  of  Babylonia.  The  prophecy  then  becomes 
a  remarkable  instance  of  the  manner  in  which  an 
elevated  spiritual  faith,  free  from  all  the  contaminating 
and  blinding  influences  of  selfish  motives  and  desires, 
may  rise  superior  to  universal  superstition,  and  boldly 
contradict  the  suggestions  of  what  is  accounted  the 
highest  wisdom  of  the  time,  anticipating  the  results 
though  not  the  methods  nor  the  evidence  of  science,  at 
an  epoch  when  science  is  as  yet  in  the  mythological 
stage.  And  the  prophet  might  well  exclaim  in  a  tone 
of  triumph.  Among  all  the  wise  of  the  nations  none  at  all 
is  like  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  as  a  source  of  true  wisdom  and 
understanding  for  the  guidance  of  fife  (ver.  7). 

The  inclusion  of  eclipses  and  comets  among  the 
signs  of  heaven  here  spoken  of  has  been  thought  to  be 
barred  by  the  considerations  that  these  are  sometimes 
alleged  by  the  prophets  themselves  as  signs  of  coming 
judgment  exhibited  by  the  God  of  Israel;  that,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  they  were  as  mysterious  and  awful 
to  the  Jews  as  to  their  heathen  neighbours  ;  and  that 


X.  i-i6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAELS   GOD.  227 

what  is  here  contemplated  is  not  the  terror  inspired  by 
rare  occasional  phenomena  of  this  kind,  but  an  habitual 
superstition  in  relation  to  some  ever-present  causes. 
It  is  certain  that  in  another  prophecy  against  Babylon, 
preserved  in  the  book  of  Isaiah,  it  is  declared  that,  as 
a  token  of  the  impending  destruction,  "  the  stars  of 
heaven  and  the  Orions  thereof  shall  not  give  their  light : 
the  sun  shall  be  darkened  in  his  going  forth,  and  the 
moon  shall  not  cause  his  light  to  shine  "  (Isa.  xiii.  lo) ; 
and  the  similar  language  of  the  prophet  Joel  is  well 
known  (Joel  ii.  2,  lO,  30,  31,  iii.  15).  But  these 
objections  are  not  conclusive,  for  what  our  author  is 
denouncing  is  the  heathen  association  of  "  the  signs  of 
the  heavens,"  whatever  may  be  intended  by  that  expres- 
sion, with  a  false  system  of  religious  belief.  It  is  a 
special  kind  of  idolatry  that  he  contemplates,  as  is  clear 
from  the  immediate  context.  Not  only  does  the  parallel 
clause  "  Unto  the  way  of  the  nations  use  not  your- 
selves "  imply  a  gradual  conformity  to  a  heathen  religion  ; 
not  only  is  it  the  fact  that  the  Hebrew  phrase  rendered 
in  our  versions  "Be  not  dismayed!"  may  imply 
religious  awe  or  worship  (Mai.  ii.  5),  as  indeed  terms 
denoting  fear  or  dread  are  used  by  the  Semitic  languages 
in  general ;  but  the  prophet  at  once  proceeds  to  an  ex- 
posure of  the  absurdity  of  image-worship  :  For  the 
ordinances  (established  modes  of  worship  ;  2  Kings  xvii. 
8  ;  here,  established  objects  of  worship)  of  the  peoples 
are  a  mere  breath  (?>.,  nought)  \for  it  (the  idol)  is  a  tree, 
which  out  of  the  forest  one  felled  (so  the  accents) ;  the 
handiwork  of  the  carpenter  with  the  bill.  With  silver  and 
with  gold  one  adorneth  it  (or,  maketh  it  bright) ;  with 
nails  and  with  hammers  they  make  them  fast,  that  one 
sway  not  (or,  that  there  be  no  shaking).  Like  the  scare- 
crow of  a  garden  of  gourds  are  they,  and  they  cannot 


228  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

Speak;  they  are  carried  and  carried^  for  they  cannot  take, 
a  step  (or,  marcli) :  be  not  afraid  of  them,  for  they  cannot 
hurt,  neither  is  it  in  their  power  to  benefit !  "  Be  not 
afraid  of  them  1 "  returns  to  the  opening  charge :  "  Of 
the  signs  of  heaven  stand  not  in  awe ! "  (cf.  Gen. 
xxxi.  42,  53;  Isa.  viii.  12,  13).  Clearly,  then,  the 
signa  cceli  are  the  idols  against  whose  worship  the 
prophet  warns  his  people ;  and  they  denote  "  the  sun, 
the  moon,  the  constellations  (of  the  Zodiac),  and  all 
the  host  of  heaven"  (2  Kings  xxiii.  5).  We  know  that 
the  kings  of  Judah,  from  Ahaz  onwards,  derived  this 
worship  from  Assyria,  and  that  its  original  home  was 
Babylon,  where  in  every  temple  the  exiles  would  see 
images  of  the  deities  presiding  over  the  heavenly 
bodies,  such  as  Samas  (the  sun)  and  his  consort  Aa 
(the  moon)  at  Sippara,  Merodach  (Jupiter)  and  his  son 
Nebo  (Mercurius)  at  Babylon  and  Borsippa,  Nergal 
(Mars)  at  Cutha,  daily  served  with  a  splendid  and 
attractive  ritual,  and  honoured  with  festivals  and  pro- 
cessions on  the  most  costly  and  magnificent  scale. 
The  prophet  looks  through  all  this  outward  display  to 
the  void  within,  he  draws  no  subtle  distinction  between 
the  symbol  and  the  thing  symbolized  ;  he  accepts  the 
popular  confusion  of  the  god  with  his  image,  and 
identifies  all  the  deities  of  the  heathen  with  the  materials 
out  of  which  their  statues  are  made  by  the  hands  of 
men.  And  he  is  justified  in  doing  this,  because  there 
can  be  but  one  god  in  his  sense  of  the  word ;  a  multitude 
oi gods  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  From  this  point  of 
view,  he  exposes  the  absurdity  of  the  splendid  idolatry 
which  his  captive  countrymen  see  all  around  them. 
Behold  that  thing,  he  cries,  which  they  call  a  god,  and 
before  which  they  tremble  with  religious  fear  I  It  is 
othing  but  a  tree  trunk  hewn  in  the  forest,  and  trimmed 


X.  i-i6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAELS  GOD.  229 

into  shape  by  the  carpenter,  and  plated  with  silver  and 
gold,  and  fixed  on  its  pedestal  with  hammer  and  nails, 
for  fear  it  should  fall !  Its  terrors  are  empty  terrors, 
like  those  of  the  palm-trunk,  rough-hewn  into  human 
shape,  and  set  up  among  the  melons  to  frighten  the 
birds  away. 

"  Olim  truncus  eram  ficulnus,  inutile  lignum, 
Cum  faber,  incertus  scamnum  faceretne  Priapum, 
Maluit  esse  deum.     Deus  inde  ego,  furum  ariumque 
Maxima  formido."     (Hon,  Sat.  i.  8,  i,  sqq?) 

Though  the  idol  has  the  outward  semblance  of  a 
man,  it  lacks  his  distinguishing  faculty  of  speech ; 
it  is  as  dumb  as  the  scarecrow,  and  as  powerless  to 
move  from  its  place ;  so  it  has  to  be  borne  about  on 
men's  shoulders  (a  mocking  allusion  to  the  grand  pro- 
cessions of  the  gods,  which  distinguished  the  Babylonian 
festivals).  Will  you  then  be  afraid  of  things  that  can 
do  neither  good  nor  harm  ?  asks  the  prophet ;  in  terms 
that  recall  the  challenge  of  another,  or  perchance  of 
himself,  to  the  idols  of  Babylon  :  Do  good  or  do  evil, 
that  we  may  look  at  each  other  and  see  it  together  (Isa. 
xli.  23). 

In  utter  contrast  with  the  impotence,  the  nothing- 
ness of  all  the  gods  of  the  nations,  whether  Israel's 
neighbours  or  his  invaders,  stands  for  ever  the  God  of 
Israel.  There  is  none  at  all  like  Thee,  O  lahweh  I  great 
art  Thou,  and  great  is  Thy  Name  in  might !  With 
different  vowel  points,  we  might  render.  Whence 
(cometh)  Thy  like,  O  lahvah  ?  This  has  been  sup- 
ported by  reference  to  chap.  xxx.  7 :  Alas  !  for  great 
is  that  day.  Whence  (is  one)  like  it  ?  {me'ayin  ?) ;  but 
there  too,  as  here,  we  may  equally  well  translate,  there 
is  none  like  it.  The  interrogative,  in  fact,  presupposes 
a  negative  answer ;    and  the  Hebrew  particle    usually 


23©  THE  PROPHEICES  OE  JEREMIAH. 

rendered  there  is  not,  are  not  (^ayin,  ^en)  has  been 
explained  as  originally  identical  with  the  interrogative 
wlure  ?  {'ayin,  implied  in  me'ayin,  "  from  where  ? " 
"whence?"  cf.  Job.  xiv.  lO:  where  is  he?=he  is  not). 
The  idiom  of  the  text  expresses  a  more  emphatic 
negation  than  the  ordinary  form  would  do ;  and  though 
rare,  is  by  no  means  altogether  unparalleled  (see  Isa. 
xl.  17,  xli.  24 ;  and  other  references  in  Gesenius). 
Great  art  Thou  and  great  is  Thy  Name  in  might ;  that 
is  to  say,  Thou  art  great  in  Thyself,  and  great  in  repute 
or  manifestation  among  men,  in  respect  of  might,  virile 
strength  or  prowess  (Ps.  xxi.  14).  Unlike  the  do- 
nothing  idols,  lahvah  reveals  His  strength  in  deeds 
of  strength  (cf  Exod.  xv.  3  sqq.).  Who  should  not  fear 
Thee,  Thou  King  of  the  nations  ?  (cf.  v.  22)  for  Thee 
it  heseemeth  (=it  is  Thy  due,  and  Thine  only)  :  for 
among  all  the  wise  of  the  nations  and  in  all  their  realm, 
there  is  none  at  all  (as  in  ver.  6)  like  Thee.  Religious 
fear  is  instinctive  in  man  ;  but,  whereas  the  various 
nations  lavish  reverence  upon  innumerable  objects 
utterly  unworthy  of  the  name  of  deity,  rational  religion 
sees  clearly  that  there  can  be  but  One  God,  working 
His  supreme  will  in  heaven  and  earth ;  and  that  this 
Almighty  being  is  the  true  "  King  of  the  nations,"  and 
disposes  their  destinies  as  well  as  that  of  His  people 
Israel,  although  they  know  Him  not,  but  call  other 
imaginary  beings  their  kings  (a  common  Semitic  desig- 
nation of  a  national  god  :  Ps.  xx.  9 ;  Isa.  vi.  5,  viii. 
21).  He,  then,  is  the  proper  object  of  the  instinct  of 
1  eligious  awe ;  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  owe  Him 
adoration,  even  though  they  be  ignorant  of  their 
obligation  ;  worship  is  His  unshared  prerogative. 

Among  all  the  wise  of  the  nations  and  in  all  their  realm, 
not  one  is  like  Thee  !     Who  are  the  wise  thus  contrasted 


X.  i-i6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD.  231 

with  the  Supreme  God  ?     Are  the  false  gods   the  re- 
puted   wise    ones,    giving   pretended    counsel    to  their 
deluded  worshippers  through  the  priestly  oracle  ?     The 
term    "  kingdom  "  seems  to   indicate  this  view,  if  we 
take   "  their  kingdom  "  to  mean  the  kingdom    of   the 
wise  ones  of  the  nations,  that  is,  the  countries  whose 
''kings  "  they  are,  where  they  are  worshipped  as  such. 
The  heathen  in  general,  and  the  Babylonians  in  par- 
ticular, ascribed  wisdom  to  their  gods.     But  there  is 
no  impropriety  from  an  Old  Testament  point  of  view 
in    comparing    lahvah's    wisdom  with    the  wisdom    of 
man.     The  meaning  of   the    prophet    may   be  simply 
this,  that  no  earthly  wisdom,  craft  or  political  sagacity, 
not  even  in  the  most  powerful  empires  such  as  Babylon, 
can  be  a  match  for  lahvah  the   All- wise,   or  avail  to 
thwart  His  purposes  (Isa.  xxxi.  i,  2).     "  Wise  "  and 
"  sagacious "  are   titles  which    the    kings    of   Babylon 
continually  assert    for  themselves    in   their  extant  in- 
scriptions ;    and    the    wisdom    and    learning    of    the 
Chaldeans  was    famous  in  the  ancient  world.     Either 
view  will  agree  with  what  follows  :  But  in  one  thing 
they — the   nations,  or    their  wise   men — will  turn    out 
brutish  and  besotted:  (in)  the  teaching  of  Vanities  zvhich 
are  wood.     The  verse  is  difficult ;  but  the  expression 
*'  the  teaching  (or  doctrine)  of  Vanities  "  may  perhaps  be 
regarded  as  equivalent  to  the  idols  taught  of;  and  then 
the   second  half  of  the  verse  is  constructed  like    the 
first  member  of  ver.  3  :  The  ordinances  of  the  peoples 
are  Vanity,  and  may  be  rendered,  the  idols  taught  of  are 
mere  wood  (cf.  ver.  3  b,  ii.  27,  iii.  9).     It  is  possible 
also  that  the    right  reading  is  "  foundation  "  {musad) 
not  "doctrine"  (niusar)  :  the  foundation  (basis,  substra- 
tum, substance)  of  idols  is  wood.     (The  term  "  Vanities  " 
— habalim — is    used    for    ''idols,"   viii.    19,    xiv.    22; 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  /EREMIAH. 


Ps.  xxxi.  7).  And,  lastly,  I  think,  the  clause  might  be 
rendered  :  a  doctrine  of  Vanities,  of  mere  wood,  it — their 
religion — is  !  ^  This  supreme  folly  is  the  '^  one  thing  " 
that  discredits  all  the  boasted  wisdom  of  the  Chaldeans  ; 
and  their  folly  will  hereafter  be  demonstrated  by  events 
(ver.  14). 

The  body  of  the  idol  is  wood,  and  outwardly  it  is 
decorated  with  silver  and  gold  and  costly  apparel ;  but 
the  whole  and  every  part  of  it  is  the  work  of  man. 
Silver  plate  (lit.  beaten  out)  from  Tarshish—ixovsx  far 
away  Tartessus  in  Spain — is  brought,  and  gold  from 
Uphaz  (Dan.  x.  5),  the  work  of  the  smith,  and  of  the 
hands  of  the  founder — who  have  beaten  out  the  silver 
and  smelted  the  gold  :  blue  and  purple  is  their  clothing 
(Ex.  xxvi.  31,  xxviii.  8):  the  work  of  the  wise — of 
skilled  artists  (Isa.  xl.  20) — is  every  part  of  them. 
Possibly  the  verse  might  better  be  translated  :  Silver 
to  be  beaten  out — argentum  malleo  diducendum — which 
is  brought  from  Tarshish,  and  gold  which  is  brought 
from  Uphaz,  are  the  work  of  the  smith  and  of  the  hands 
of  the  smelter;  the  blue  and  purple  which  are  their 
clothing,  are  the  work  of  the  wise  all  of  them.  At  all 
events,  the  point  of  the  verse  seems  to  be  that,  whether 
you  look  at  the  inside  or  the  outside  of  the  idol,  his 
heart  of  wood  or  his  casing  of  gold  and  silver  and  his 
gorgeous  robes,  the  whole  and  every  bit  of  him  as  he 
stands  before  you  is  a  manufactured  article,  the  work 
of  men's  hands.  The  supernatural  comes  in  nowhere. 
In  sharpest  contrast  with  this  Hfeless  fetish,  lahvah  is 
a  God  that  is  truth,  i.e.,  a  true  God  (cf.  Prov.  xxii.  21), 
or   lahvah  is   God  in  truth — is   really  God — He  is   a 

'  It  is  against  usage  to  divide  the  clause  as  Naegelsbach  does,  "Vain 
instruction  1  It  is  wood  !  "  or  to  render  with  Ewald  "  Simply  vaiii 
doctrine  is  the  wood  !  "  which  would  require  the  article  (ha'ef). 


X.I-I6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD.  233 

living  God,  and  an  eternal  King  ;  the  sovereign  whose 
rule  is  independent  of  the  vicissitudes  of  time,  and  the 
caprices  of  temporal  creatures :  at  His  wrath  the  earth 
quaketh,  and  nations  cannot  abide  His  indignation  :  the 
vi^orld  of  nature  and  the  world  of  man  are  alike 
dependent  upon  His  Will,  and  He  exhibits  His  power 
and  his  righteous  anger  in  the  disturbances  of  the  one 
and  the  disasters  of  the  other. 

According  to  the  Hebrew  punctuation,  we  should 
rather  translate :  But  laJivah  Elohim  (the  designa- 
tion of  God  in  the  second  account  of  creation,  Gen. 
ii.  4-iii.  24)  is  truth,  i.e.,  reality ;  as  opposed  to  the 
falsity  and  nothingness  of  the  idols;  or  permanence, 
lastingness  (Ps.  xix.  lo),  as  opposed  to  their  transitori- 
ness  (vv.  1 1- 1 5). 

The  statement  of  the  tenth  verse  respecting  the 
eternal  power  and  godhead  of  lahvah  is  confirmed 
in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  by  instances  of  His 
creative  energy  and  continual  activity  as  exhibited  in 
the  world  of  nature.  The  Maker  oj  the  earth  by  His 
power,  Establishing  the  habitable  world  by  His  wisdom, 
And  by  His  insight  He  did  stretch  out  the  heavens :  At 
the  sound  of  His  giving  voice  (Ps.  Ixxvii.  18;  i.e., 
thundering)  there  is  an  uproar  of  waters  in  the  heavens. 
And  He  causeth  the  vapours  to  rise  from  the  end  of  the 
earth;  Lightnings  for  the  rain  He  maketh.  And  causeth 
the  wind  to  go  forth  out  of  His  treasuries.  There  is 
no  break  in  the  sense  between  these  sentences  and 
the  tenth  verse.  The  construction  resembles  that  of 
Amos  v.  8,  ix.  5,  6,  and  is  interrupted  by  the  eleventh 
verse,  which  in  all  probability  was,  to  begin  with,  a 
marginal  annotation. 

The  solid  earth  is  itself  a  natural  symbol  of  strength 
and  stability.     The    original   creation   of  this  mighty 


234  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

and  enduring  structure  argues  the  omnipotence  of  the 
Creator;  while  the  "establishing"  or  "founding" 
of  it  upon  the  waters  of  the  great  deep  is  a  proof  of 
supreme  wisdom  (Ps.  xxiv.  2  ;  cxxxvi.  6),  and  the 
"  spreading  out "  of  the  visible  heavens  or  atmosphere 
like  a  vast  canopy  or  tent  over  the  earth  (Ps.  civ.  2  ; 
Isa.  xl.  22),  is  evidence  of  a  perfect  insight  into  the 
conditions  essential  to  the  existence  and  wellbeing 
of  man. 

It  is,  01  course,  clear  enough  that  physical  facts 
and  phenomena  are  here  described  in  popular  language 
as  they  appear  to  the  eye,  and  by  no  means  with 
the  severe  precision  of  a  scientific  treatise.  It  is  not 
to  be  supposed  that  this  prophet  knew  more  about  the 
actual  constitution  of  the  physical  universe  than  the 
wise  men  of  his  time  could  impart.  But  such  know- 
ledge was  not  necessary  to  the  enforcement  of  the 
spiritual  truths  which  it  was  his  mission  to  proclaim ; 
and  the  fact  that  his  brief  oracle  presents  those  truths 
in  a  garb  which  we  can  only  regard  as  poetical,  and 
which  it  would  argue  a  want  of  judgment  to  treat  as 
scientific  prose,  does  not  affect  their  eternal  validity, 
nor  at  all  impair  their  universal  importance.  The 
passage  refers  us  to  God  as  the  ultimate  source  of 
the  world  of  nature.  It  teaches  us  that  the  stability 
of  things  is  a  reflexion  of  His  eternal  being ;  that 
the  persistence  of  matter  is  an  embodiment  of  His 
strength  ;  that  the  indestructibility  which  science 
ascribes  to  the  materials  of  the  physical  universe  is  the 
seal  which  authenticates  their  Divine  original.  Per- 
sistence, permanence,  indestructibleness,  are  properly 
sole  attributes  of  the  eternal  Creator,  which  He  com- 
municates to  His  creation.  Things  are  indestructible  as 
regards  man,  not  as  regards  the  Author  of  their  being. 


.i-i6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS   AND  ISRAEHS  GOD.  235 

Thus  the  wisdom  enshrined  in  the  laws  of  the 
visible  world,  all  its  strength  and  all  its  stability,  is 
a  manifestation  of  the  Unseen  God.  Invisible  in 
themselves,  the  eternal  power  and  godhead  of  lahvah 
become  visible  in  His  creation.  And,  as  the  Hebrew 
mode  of  expression  indicates,  His  activity  is  never 
suspended,  nor  His  presence  withdrawn.  The  conflict 
of  the  elements,  the  roar  of  the  thunder,  the  flash  of 
the  lightning,  the  downpour  of  waters,  the  rush  of 
the  stormwind,  are  His  work ;  and  not  less  His  work, 
because  we  have  found  out  the  "natural"  causes,  that 
is,  the  established  conditions  of  their  occurrence  ;  not 
less  His  work,  because  we  have,  in  the  exercise  of 
faculties  really  though  remotely  akin  to  the  Divine 
Nature,  discovered  how  to  imitate,  or  rather  mimic, 
even  the  more  awful  of  these  marvellous  phenomena. 
Mimicry  it  cannot  but  appear,  when  we  compare  the 
overwhelming  forces  that  rage  in  a  tropical  storm 
with  our  electric  toys.  The  lightnings  in  their  glory 
and  terror  are  still  God's  arrows,  and  man  cannot  rob 
His  quiver. 

Nowadays  more  is  known  about  the  machinery  of 
the  world,  but  hardly  more  of  the  Intelligence  that 
contrived  it,  and  keeps  it  continually  in  working  order, 
nay,  lends  it  its  very  existence.  More  is  known  about 
means  and  methods,  but  hardly  more  about  aims  and 
purposes.  The  reflexion,  how  few  are  the  master- 
conceptions  which  modern  speculation  has  added  to 
the  treasury  of  thought,  should  suggest  humility  to  the 
vainest  and  most  self-confident  of  physical  inquirers. 
In  the  very  dawn  of  philosophy  the  human  mind 
appears  to  have  anticipated  as  it  were  by  sudden 
flashes  of  insight  some  of  the  boldest  hypotheses  of 
modern  science,  including  that  of  Evolution  itself. 


236  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

The  unchangeable  or  invariable  laws  of  nature, 
that  is  to  say,  the  uniformity  of  sequence  which  we 
observe  in  physical  phenomena,  is  not  to  be  regarded 
as  a  thing  that  explains  itself.  It  is  only  intelligible 
as  the  expression  of  the  unchanging  will  of  God. 
The  prophet's  word  is  still  true.  It  is  God  who 
''  causes  the  vapours  to  rise  from  the  end  of  the  earth," 
drawing  them  up  into  the  air  from  oceans  and  lakes  by 
the  simple  yet  beautiful  and  efficient  action  of  the  solar 
heat ;  it  is  God  who  '*  makes  lightnings  for  the  rain," 
charging  the  clouds  with  the  electric  fluid,  to  burst 
forth  in  blinding  flashes  when  the  opposing  currents 
meet.  It  is  God  who  "  brings  the  wind  out  of  His 
treasuries."  In  the  prophet's  time  the  winds  were 
as  great  a  mystery  as  the  thunder  and  lightning ; 
it  was  not  known  whence  they  came  nor  whither  they 
went.  But  the  knowledge  that  they  are  but  currents 
of  air  due  to  variations  of  temperature  does  not  really 
deprive  them  of  their  wonder.  Not  only  is  it  im- 
possible, in  the  last  resort,  to  comprehend  what  heat 
is,  what  motion  is,  what  the  thing  moved  is.  A 
far  greater  marvel  remains,  which  cries  aloud  of  God's 
wisdom  and  presence  and  sovereignty  over  all;  and 
that  is  the  wonderful  consilience  of  all  the  various 
powers  and  forces  of  the  natural  world  in  making 
a  home  for  man,  and  enabhng  so  apparently  feeble 
a  creature  as  he  to  live  and  thrive  amidst  the  perpetual 
interaction  and  collision  of  the  manifold  and  mighty 
elements  of  the  universe. 

The  true  author  of  all  this  magnificent  system  of 
objects  and  forces,  to  the  wonder  and  the  glory  of 
which  only  custom  can  blind  us,  is  the  God  of  the 
prophet.  This  sublime,  this  just  conception  of  God 
was   possible,   for  it   was  actually  realized,   altogether 


X.I-I6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD.  237 


apart  from    the  influence  of  Hellenic  philosophy  and 
modern. European  science.     But  it  was  by  no  means  as 
common  to  the  Semetic  peoples.     In  Babylon,  which 
was  at  the  time  the  focus  of  all  earthly  wisdom  and 
power,  in  Babylon  the  ancient  mother  of  sciences  and 
arts,  a  crude  polytheism  stultified  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
wise,  and  lent  its  sanction  to  a  profound  moral  corrup- 
tion.    Rapid  and  universal  conquests,  enormous  wealth 
accruing  from   the  spoils   and  tributes  of  all  nations, 
only  subserved    the    luxury  and  riotous  living  which 
issued  in   a  general  effeminacy  and  social  enervation ; 
until  the  great  fabric  of  empire,   which  Nabopalassar 
and  Nebuchadrezzar  had  reared  by  their  military  and 
pohtical  genius,  sank  under  the  weight  of  its  own  vices. 
Looking  round  upon    this  spectacle  of  superstitious 
folly,  the  prophet  declares  that  all  men  are  become  too 
brute-like  for  knowledge;  too  degraded  to  appreciate  the 
truth,  the  simplicity  of  a  higher  faith;  too  besotted  with 
the  worship  of  a  hundred  vain  idols,  which  were  the 
outward  reflexion  of  their  own  diseased  imaginations, 
to  receive  the  wisdom  of  the  true  religion,  and  to  per- 
ceive especially  the   truth    just  enunciated,   that  it  is 
lahvah  who  gives  the  rain  and  upon  whom  all  atmos- 
pheric changes  depend  (cf  xiv.  22) :  and  thus,  in  the 
hour  of  need,  every  founder  blushes  for  the  image,  because 
his  molten  figure  is  a  lie,  and  there  is  no  breath  in  them; 
because  the  lifeless  idol,  the  work  of  his  hands,   can 
lend  no  help.     Perhaps  both  clauses  of  the  verse  rather 
express    a   prophecy  :   All  men  will  be  proven  brutish, 
destitute  of  knowledge ;  every  founder  will  blush  for  the 
graven  image.     Wise  and  strong  as   the  Babylonians 
supposed   themselves  to  be,  the   logic  of  events  would 
undeceive  them.    They  were  doomed  to  a  rude  awaken- 
ing ;  to  discover  in  the  hour  of  defeat  and  surrender 


238  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

that  the  molten  idol  was  a  delusion,  that  the  work  of 
their  hands  was  an  embodied  lie,  void  of  life,  powerless 
to  save.  Vanity — a  mere  breath,  nought — are  they,  a 
work  of  knaveries  (a  term  recurring  only  in  li.  18  ;  the 
root  seems  to  mean  ^Ho  stammer,"  "to  imitate");  in 
the  time  of  their  visitation  they  will  perish  !  or  simply 
they  perish  ! — in  the  burning  temples,  in  the  crash  of 
falling  shrines. 

It  has  happened  so.  At  this  day  the  temples  of 
cedar  and  marble,  with  their  woodwork  overlaid  with 
bronze  and  silver  and  gold,  of  whose  glories  the  Baby- 
lonian sovereigns  so  proudly  boast  in  their  still  existing 
records,  as  "  s,hining  like  the  sun,  and  like  the  stars  of 
heaven,"  are  shapeless  heaps  or  rather  mountains  of 
rubbish,  where  Arabs  dig  for  building  materials  and 
treasure  trove,  and  European  explorers  for  the  relics 
of  a  civilisation  and  a  superstition  which  have  passed 
away  for  ever.  "  Vana  sunt,  et  opus  risu  dignum."  In 
the  revolutions  of  time,  which  are  the  outward  measures 
of  the  eternally  self-unfolding  purposes  of  God,  the 
word  of  the  Judean  prophets  has  been  amply  fulfilled. 
Babylon  and  her  idols  are  no  more. 

All  other  idols,  too,  must  perish  in  like  manner. 
Thus  shall  ye  say  of  them  :  The  gods  who  the  heavens 
and  earth  did  not  make,  perish  from  the  earth  and  from 
under  the  heavens  shall  these !  The  assertion  that  the 
idols  of  Babylon  were  doomed  to  destruction,  was  not 
the  whole  of  the  prophetic  message.  It  is  connected 
with  and  founded  upon  the  antithetic  assertion  of  the 
eternity  of  Iah\  ah.  They  will  perish,  but  He  endures. 
The  one  eternal  is  El  Elyon,  the  Most  High  God,  the 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth.  But  heaven  and  earth 
and  whatever  partakes  only  of  their  material  nature 
are  also  doomed  to  pass  away.     And  in  that  day  of  the 


X.I-I6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAELS  GOD.  239 

Lord,  when  the  elements  melt  with  fervent  heat,  and 
the  earth  and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burnt 
up  (2  Pet.  iii.  10),  not  only  will  the  idols  of  the  heathen 
world,  and  the  tawdry  dolls  which  a  degenerate  church 
suffers  to  be  adored  as  a  kind  of  magical  embodiment 
of  the  Mother  of  God,  but  all  other  idols  which  the 
sensebound  heart  of  man  makes  to  itself,  vanish  into 
nothingness  before  that  overwhelming  revelation  of  the 
supremacy  of  God. 

There  is  something  amazing  in  the  folly  of  worship- 
ping man,  whether  in  the  abstract  form  of  the  cultus  of 
''  Humanity,"  or  in  any  of  the  various  forms  of  what  is 
called  "  Hero-worship,"  or  in  the  vulgar  form  of  self- 
worship,  which  is  the  religion  of  the  selfish  and  the 
worldly.  To  ascribe  infallibiUty  to  any  mortal,  whether 
Pope  or  politician,  is  to  sin  in  the  spirit  of  idolatry. 
The  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  He  alone,  is 
worthy  of  worship.  "Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  earth  ?  declare,  if  thou  hast 
understanding  "  (Job  xxxviii.  4).  No  human  wisdom 
nor  power  presided  there ;  and  to  produce  the  smallest 
of  asteroids  is  still  a  task  which  lies  infinitely  beyond 
the  combined  resources  of  modern  science.  Man  and 
all  that  man  has  created  is  nought  in  the  scale  of 
God's  creation.  He  and  all  the  mighty  works  with 
which  he  amazes,  overshadows,  enslaves  his  little  world, 
will  perish  and  pass  away ;  only  that  will  survive 
which  he  builds  of  materials  which  are  imperishable, 
fabrics  of  spiritual  worth  and  excellence  and  glory 
(i  Cor.  iii.  13).  A  Nineveh,  a  Babylon,  a  London,  a 
Paris,  may  disappear ;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God 
abideth  for  ever  (i  John  ii.  17).  Not  like  these  {cL  verse 
1 1  ad  fin?)  is  Jacob's  Portion,  but  the  Maker  and  Moulder 
of  the  All — He  is  his  heritage ;  lahvah  Sabaoth  ts  His 


240  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


name!  (Both  here  and  at  li.  I9=xxviii.  19  the  LXX. 
omits :  and  Israel  is  the  tribe ^  which  seems  to  have 
been  derived  from  Deut.  xxxii.  9.  Israel  is  elsewhere 
called  lahvah's  heritage,  Ps.  xxxiii.  12,  and  portion,  Deut. 
xxxii.  9 ;  but  that  thought  hardly  suits  the  connexion 
here.) 

Not  like  these :  for  He  is  the  Divine  Potter  who 
moulded  all  things,  including  the  signs  of  heaven, 
and  the  idols  of  wood  and  metal,  and  their  foolish 
worshippers.  And  he  isJacoUs  portion  ;  for  the  know- 
ledge and  worship  of  Him  was,  in  the  Divine  counsels, 
originally  assigned  to  Israel  (cf.  Deut.  iv.  19;  and 
xxxii.  8,  according  to  the  true  reading,  preserved  in  the 
LXX.) ;  and  therefore  Israel  alone  knows  Him  and  His 
glorious  attributes.  lahvah  Sabaoth  is  His  name :  the 
Eternal,  the  Maker  and  Master  of  the  hosts  of  heaven 
and  earth,  is  the  aspect  under  which  He  has  revealed 
Himself  to  the  true  representatives  of  Israel,  His 
servants  the  prophets. 

The  portion  of  Israel  is  his  God — his  abiding  por- 
tion; of  which  neither  the  changes  of  time  nor  the 
misconceptions  of  man  can  avail  to  rob  him.  When  all 
that  is  accidental  and  transitory  is  taken  away,  this 
distinction  remains :  Israel's  portion  is  his  God. 
lahvah  was  indeed  the  national  God  of  the  Jews, 
argue  some  of  our  modern  wise  ones ;  and  therefore  He 
cannot  be  identified  with  the  universal  Deity.  He  has 
been  developed,  expanded,  into  this  vast  conception ; 
but  originally  He  was  but  the  private  god  of  a  petty 
tribe,  the  Lar  of  a  wandering  household.  Now  herein 
is  a  marvellous  thing.  How  was  it  that  this  particular 
household  god  thus  grew  to  infinite  .proportions,  like 
the  genius  emerging  from  the  unsealed  jar  of  Arab 
fable,  until,  from  His  prime  foothold  on  the  tent-floor 


X.I- 1 6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD.  241 

of  a  nomad  family,  He  towered  above  the  stars  and  His 
form  overshadowed  the  universe  ?  How  did  it  come  to 
pass  that  His  prophet  could  ask  in  a  tone  of  indisputable 
truth,  recognised  alike  by  friend  and  foe,  ''Do  not  I 
fill  heaven  and  earth,  saith  lahvah "  ?  (Jer.  xxiii.  24). 
How,  that  this  immense,  this  immeasurable  expansion 
took  place  in  this  instance,  and  not  in  that  of  any  one 
of  the  thousand  rival  deities  of  surrounding  and  more 
powerful  tribes  and  nations  ?  How  comes  it  that  we 
to-day  are  met  to  adore  lahvah,  and  not  rather  one  of 
the  forgotten  gods  of  Canaan  or  Egypt  or  Babylon  ? 
Merodach  and  Nebo  have  vanished,  but  lahvah  is  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  certainly  looks 
very  much  as  if  the  Hebrew  prophets  were  right ;  as  if 
lahvah  were  really  the  God  of  the  creation  as  well  as 
the  Portion  of  Jacob. 

The  portion  of  Jacob.  Is  His  relation  to  that  one 
people  a  stumbling-block  ?  Can  we  see  no  eternal 
truth  in  the  statement  of  the  Psalmist  that  the  Lord's 
portion  is  His  people?  Who  can  find  fault  with  the 
enthusiastic  faith  of  holy  men  thus  exulting  in  the 
knowledge  and  love  of  God  ?  It  is  a  characteristic 
of  all  genuine  religion,  this  sweet,  this  elevating  con- 
sciousness that  God  is  our  God ;  this  profound  sense 
that  He  has  revealed  Himself  to  us  in  a  special  and 
peculiar  and  individual  manner.  But  the  actual  his- 
torical results,  as  well  as  the  sacred  books,  prove  that 
the  sense  of  possessing  God  and  being  possessed  by 
Him  was  purer,  stronger,  deeper,  more  effectual,  more 
abiding,  in  Israel  than  in  any  other  race  of  the  ancient 
world. 

One  must  tread  warily  upon  slippery  ground ;  but  I 
cannot  help  thinking  that  many  of  the  arguments  alleged 
against  the  probability  of  God  revealing  Himself  to  man 

16 


242  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

at  all  or  to  a  single  nation  in  particular,  are  sufficiently 
met  by  the  simple  consideration  that  He  has  actually 
done  so.  Any  event  whatever  may  be  very  improbable 
until  it  has  happened ;  and  assuming  that  God  has  not 
revealed  Himself,  it  may  perhaps  be  shewn  to  be  highly 
improbable  that  He  would  reveal  Himself.  But,  mean- 
while, all  religions  and  all  faith  and  the  phenomena  of 
conscience  and  the  highest  intuitions  of  reason  pre- 
suppose this  improbable  event  as  the  fact  apart  from 
which  they  are  insoluble  riddles.  This  is  not  to  say 
that  the  precise  manner  of  revelation — the  contact  of 
the  Infinite  with  the  Finite  Spirit — is  definable.  There 
are  many  less  lofty  experiences  of  man  which  also  are 
indefinable  and  mysterious,  but  none  the  less  actual 
and  certain.  Facts  are  not  explained  by  denial,  which 
is  about  the  most  barren  and  feeble  attitude  a  man  can 
take  up  in  the  presence  of  a  bafQing  mystery.  Nor  is  it 
for  man  to  prescribe  conditions  to  God.  He  who  made 
us  and  knows  us  far  better  than  we  know  ourselves, 
knows  also  how  best  to  reveal  Himself  to  His 
creatures. 

The  special  illumination  of  Israel,  however,  does  not 
imply  that  no  light  was  vouchsafed  elsewhere.  The 
religious  systems  of  other  nations  furnish  abundant 
evidence  to  the  contrary.  God  **  left  not  Himself  with- 
out witness,"  the  silent  witness  of  that  beneficent  order 
of  the  natural  world,  which  makes  it  possible  for  man 
to  live,  and  to  live  happily.  St.  Paul  did  not  scruple 
to  compliment  even  the  degenerate  Athenians  of  his 
own  day  on  the  ground  of  their  attention  to  religious 
matters,  and  he  could  cite  a  Greek  poet  in  support  of 
his  doctrine  that  man  is  the  offspring  of  the  one  God 
and  Father  of  all. 

We   may   see  in  the  fact  a  sufficient  indication  of 


X.  i-i6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAELS   GOD.  243 

what  St.  Paul  would  have  said,  had  the  nobler  non- 
Christian  systems  fallen  under  his  cognisance ;  had 
heathenism  become  known  to  him  not  in  the  hetero- 
geneous polytlieism  of  Hellas,  which  in  his  time  had 
long  since  lost  what  little  moral  influence  it  had  ever 
possessed,  nor  in  the  wild  orgiastic  nature  worships  of 
the  Lesser  Asia,  which  in  their  thoroughly  sensuous 
basis  did  dishonour  alike  to  God  and  to  man  ;  but  in 
the  sublime  tenets  of  Zarathustra,  with  their  noble 
morality  and  deep  reverence  for  the  One  God,  the  Spirit 
of  all  goodness  and  truth,  or  in  the  reformed  Brahman- 
ism  of  Gautama  the  Buddha,  with  its  grand  principle 
of  self-renunciation  and  universal  charity. 

The  peculiar  glories  of  Bible  religion  are  not  dimmed 
in  presence  of  these  other  lights.  Allowing  for  whatever 
is  valuable  in  these  systems  of  belief,  we  may  still  allege 
that  Bible  religion  comprises  all  that  is  good  in  them, 
and  has,  besides,  many  precious  features  peculiar  to 
itself;  we  may  still  maintain  that  their  excellences  are 
rather  testimonies  to  the  truth  of  the  biblical  teachings 
about  God,  than  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  rational 
faith ;  that  it  would  be  far  more  difficult  to  a  thoughtful 
mind  to  accept  the  revelation  of  God  conveyed  in  the 
Bible,  if  it  were  the  fact  that  no  rays  of  Divine  light 
had  cheered  the  darkness  of  the  millions  of  struggling 
mortals  beyond  the  pale  of  Judaism,  than  it  is  under 
the  actual  circumstances  of  the  case :  in  short,  that  the 
truths  implicated  in  imperfect  religions,  isolated  from 
all  contact  with  Hebrew  or  Christian  belief,  are  a 
witness  to  and  a  foreshadowing  of  the  truths  of  the 
gospel. 

Our  prophet  declares  that  Jacob's  portion — the  God 
of  Israel — is  not  like  the  gods  of  contemporary  peoples. 
How,  then,  does  he  conceive  of  Him  ?     Not  as  a  meta- 


244  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

physical  entity — a  naked,  perhaps  empty  abstraction  of 
the  understanding.  Not  as  the  Absolute  and  Infinite 
Being,  who  is  out  of  all  relation  to  space  and  time. 
His  language — the  language  of  the  Old  Testament — 
possesses  no  adjectives  like  "  Infinite/'  "  Absolute," 
"  Eternal/'  "  Omniscient/'  ''  Omnipresent/'  nor  even 
"Almighty/'  although  that  word  so  often  appears  in 
our  venerable  Authorized  Version.  It  is  difficult  for 
us,  who  are  the  heirs  of  ages  of  thought  and  intellectual 
toil,  and  whose  thinking  is  almost  wholly  carried  on 
by  means  of  abstract  ideas,  to  realize  a  state  of  mind 
and  a  habit  of  thought  so  largely  different  from  our 
own  as  that  of  the  Hebrew  people  and  even  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets.  Yet  unless  we  make  an  effort  to 
realize  it,  however  inadequately,  unless  we  exert  our- 
selves, and  strive  manfully  to  enter  through  the  gate 
of  an  instructed  imagination  into  that  far-off  stage  of 
life  and  thought  which  presents  so  many  problems  to 
the  historical  student,  and  hides  in  its  obscurity  so 
many  precious  truths ;  we  must  inevitably  fail  to  appre- 
ciate the  full  significance,  and  consequently  fail  of 
appropriating  the  full  blessing  of  those  wonderful 
prophecies  of  ancient  Israel,  which  are  not  for  an  age 
but  for  all  time. 

Let  us,  then,  try  to  apprehend  the  actual  point  of 
view  from  which  the  inspired  Israelite  regarded  his 
God.  In  the  first  place,  that  point  of  view  was  emi- 
nently practical.  As  a  recent  writer  has  forcibly 
remarked,  "  The  primitive  mind  does  not  occupy  itself 
with  things  of  no  practical  importance,  and  it  is  only 
in  the  later  stages  of  society  that  we  meet  with  tradi- 
tional beliefs  nominally  accepted  by  every  one  but 
practically  regarded  by  none ;  or  with  theological 
speculations   which  have  an  interest  for  the  curious, 


X.  i-i6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAEL'S  GOD.  245 

but  are  not  felt  to  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  concerns 
ofHfe." 

The  pious  Israehte  could  not  indulge  a  morbidly 
acute  and  restlessly  speculative  intellect  with  philoso- 
phical or  scientific  theories  about  the  Deity,  His  nature 
in  Himself,  His  essential  and  accidental  attributes,  His 
relation  to  the  visible  world.  Neither  did  such  theories 
then  exist  ready  made  to  his  hand,  nor  did  his  inward 
impulses  and  the  natural  course  of  thought  urge  him 
to  pry  into  such  abstruse  matters,  and  with  cold  irre- 
verence to  subject  his  idea  of  God  to  critical  analysis. 
Could  he  have  been  made  to  understand  the  attitude 
and  the  demands  of  some  modern  disputants,  he  would 
have  been  apt  to  exclaim,  "Canst  thou  by  searching 
find  out  God?  Canst  thou  find. out  Shaddai  unto  per- 
fection ?  It  is  as  high  as  heaven,  what  canst  thou  do  ? 
deeper  than  hell,  what  canst  thou  know  ?  "  To  find 
out  and  to  know  God  as  the  understanding  finds  out 
and  knows,  how  can  that  ever  become  possible  to  man  ? 
Such  knowledge  depends  entirely  upon  processes  of 
comparison ;  upon  the  perception  of  similarity  between 
the  object  investigated  and  other  known  objects ;  upon 
accurate  naming  and  classification.  But  who  can 
dream  of  successfully  referring  the  Deity  to  a  class  ? 
"  To  what  will  ye  liken  God,  or  what  likeness  will  ye 
compare  unto  Him  ?  "  In  the  brief  prophecy  before 
us,  as  in  the  fortieth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  with  which  it 
presents  so  many  points  of  contact,  we  have  a  splendid 
protest  against  all  attempts  at  bringing  the  Most  High 
within  the  limitations  of  human  cognition,  and  reducing 
God  to  the  category  of  things  known  and  understood. 
Directed  in  the  first  instance  against  idolatry — against 
vain  efforts  to  find  an  adequate  likeness  of  the  Supreme 
in  some  one  of  the  numberless  creations  of  His  hand, 


246  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

and  so  to  compare  and  gauge  and  comprehend  Himself, 
— that  protest  is  still  applicable,  and  with  even  greater 
force,  against  the  idolatrous  tendencies  of  the  present 
age :  when  one  school  of  devotees  loudly  declares, 

"  Thou,  Nature,  art  our  goddess  ;  to  thy  law 
Our  services  are  bound :  wherefore  should  we 
Stand  in  the  plague  of  custom  ?  " 

and  another  is  equally  loud  in  asserting  that  it  has 
found  the  true  god  in  man  himself;  and  another  pro- 
claims the  divinity  of  brute  force,  and  feels  no  shame  in 
advocating  the  sovereignty  of  those  gross  instincts  and 
passions  which  man  shares  with  the  beasts  that  perish. 
It  is  an  unworthy  and  an  inadequate  conception  of  God, 
which  identifies  Him  with  Nature;  it  is  a  deplorably 
impoverished  idea,  the  mere  outcome  of  philosophic 
despair,  which  identifies  him  with  Humanity;  but  what 
language  can  describe  the  grovelling  baseness  of  that 
habit  of  thought  which  knows  of  nothing  higher  than 
the  sensual  appetite,  and  seeks  nothing  better  than  its 
continual  indulgence;  which  sees  the  native  impress 
of  sovereignty  on  the  brow  of  passing  pleasure,  and 
recognises  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  in  a  tem- 
porary association  of  depraved  instincts  ? 

It  is  to  this  last  form  of  idolatry,  this  utter  heathenism 
in  the  moral  life,  that  all  other  forms  really  converge, 
as  St.  Paul  has"  shewn  in  the  introduction  of  his  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  where,  in  view  of  the  unutterable 
iniquities  which  were  familiar  occurrences  in  the  world 
of  his  contemporaries,  he  affirms  that  moral  decadence 
of  the  most  appalling  character  is  ultimately  traceable 
to  a  voluntary  indulgence  of  those  idolatrous  tendencies 
which  ignore  God's  revelation  of  Himself  to  the  heart 
and  reason,  and  prefer  to  find  their  deity  in  something 


X.I-I6.]    HEATHEN  IDOLS  AND  ISRAELS  GOD.  247 

less  awful  in  purity  and  holiness,  less  averse  to  the 
defilements  of  sin,  less  conversant  with  the  secrets  of 
the  soul ;  and  so,  not  liking  to  retain  the  true  and  only 
God  in  knowledge,  change  His  truth  into  a  lie,  and 
worship  and  serve  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator : 
changing  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  an 
image  made  hke  unto  coniiptible  man,  or  even  to  birds 
and  fourfooted  beasts  and  creeping  things. 


VIL 

THE  BROKEN  COVENANT. 
Jeremiah  xi.,  xii, 

THERE  IS  no  visible  break  between  these  two 
chapters.  They  seem  to  summarize  the  history 
of  a  particular  episode  in  the  prophet's  career.  At  the 
same  time,  the  style  is  so  peculiar,  that  it  is  not  so 
easy,  as  it  might  appear  at  a  first  glance,  to  determine 
exactly  what  it  is  that  the  section  has  to  tell  us.  When 
we  come  to  take  a  closer  look  at  it,  we  find  a  thoroughly 
characteristic  mixture  of  direct  narrative  and  soliloquy, 
of  statement  of  facts  and  reflexion  upon  those  facts, 
of  aspiration  and  prayer  and  prophecy,  of  self-com- 
muning and  communing  with  God.  Careful  analysis 
may  perhaps  furnish  us  with  a  clue  to  the  disentangle- 
ment of  the  general  sense  and  drift  of  this  characteristic 
medley.  We  may  thus  hope  to  get  a  clearer  insight 
into  the  bearing  of  this  old-world  oracle  upon  our  own 
needs  and  perplexities,  our  sins  and  the  fruit  of  our 
sins,  what  we  have  done  and  what  we  may  expect  as 
the  consequence  of  our  doings.  For  the  Word  of  God 
is  "  quick  and  powerful."  Its  outward  form  and  vesture 
may  change  with  the  passing  of  time  ;  but  its  substance 
never  changes.  The  old  interpreters  die,  but  the  Word 
lives,  and  its  life  is  a  life  of  power.  By  that  Word 
men  live  in  their  successive  generations ;  it  is  at  once 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT,  249 

creative  and  regulative;  it  is  the  seed  of  life  in  man, 
and  it  is  the  law  of  that  life.  Apart  from  the  Divine 
Word,  man  would  be  no  more  than  a  brute  gifted  with 
understanding,  but  denied  all  answer  to  the  higher 
cravings  of  soul  and  spirit ;  a  being  whose  conscious 
life  was  a  mere  mockery ;  a  self-tormentor,  tantalized 
with  vain  surmises,  tortured  with  ever-recurring  pro- 
blems;  longing  for  light,  and  beset  with  never-Ufting 
clouds  of  impenetrable  darkness  ;  the  one  sole  instance, 
among  the  myriads  of  sentient  beings,  of  a  creature 
whose  wants  Nature  refuses  to  satisfy,  and  whose 
lot  it  is  to  consume  for  ever  in  the  fires  of  hopeless 
desire. 

The  sovran  Lord,  who  is  the  Eternal  Wisdom,  has 
not  made  such  a  mistake.  He  provides  satisfaction 
for  all  His  creatures,  according  to  the  varying  degrees 
of  their  capacity,  according  to  their  rank  in  the  scale 
of  being,  so  that  all  may  rejoice  in  the  fulness  and 
the  freedom  of  a  happy  life  for  their  allotted  time. 
Man  is  no  exception  to  the  universal  rule.  His  whole 
constitution  as  God  has  fashioned  it  is  such  that  he 
can  find  his  perfect  satisfaction  in  the  Word  of  the 
Lord.  And  the  depth  of  his  dissatisfaction,  the  poig- 
nancy and  the  bitterness  of  his  disappointment  and 
disgust  at  himself  and  at  the  world  in  which  he  finds 
himself,  are  the  strongest  evidence  that  he  has  sought 
satisfaction  in  things  that  cannot  satisfy;  that  he  has 
foolishly  endeavoured  to  feed  his  soul  upon  ashes,  to 
still  the  cravings  of  his  spirit  with  something  other  than 
that  Word  of  God  which  is  the  Bread  of  Life. 

You  will  observe  that  the  discourse  we  are  to  con- 
sider, is  headed  :  The  word  that  fell  to  Jeremiah  from 
lahvah  (lit.  from  with,  that  is,  from  the  presence  of  the 
Eternal),  saying^     I  think  that  expression    ** saying" 


250  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

covers  all  that  follows,  to  the  end  of  the  discourse. 
The  prophet's  preaching  the  Law,  and  the  consequences 
of  that  preaching  as  regarded  himself ;  his  experience 
of  the  stubbornness  and  treachery  of  the  people  ;  the 
varying  moods  of  his  own  mind  under  that  bitter 
experience  ;  his  reflexions  upon  the  condition  of  Judah, 
and  the  condition  of  Judah's  ill-minded  neighbours; 
his  forecasts  of  the  after-course  of  events  as  determined 
by  the  unchanging  will  of  a  righteous  God ;  all  these 
things  seem  to  be  included  in  the  scope  of  that  '^  Word 
from  the  presence  of  lahvah,"  which  the  prophet  is 
about  to  put  on  record.  You  will  see  that  it  is  not 
a  single  utterance  of  a  precise  and  definite  message, 
which  he  might  have  delivered  in  a  few  moments  of 
time  before  a  single  audience  of  his  countrymen.  The 
Word  of  the  Lord  is  progressively  revealed  ;  it  begins 
with  a  thought  in  the  prophet's  mind,  but  its  entire 
content  is  unfolded  gradually,  as  he  proceeds  to  act 
upon  that  thought  or  Divine  impulse ;  it  is,  as  it  were, 
evolved  as  the  result  of  collision  between  the  prophet 
and  his  hearers ;  it  emerges  into  clear  light  out  of  the 
darkness  of  storm  and  conflict ;  a  conflict  both  internal 
and  external;  a  conflict  within,  between  his  own 
contending  emotions  and  impulses  and  sympathies ; 
and  a  conflict  without,  between  an  unpopular  teacher, 
and  a  wayward  and  corrupt  and  incorrigible  people. 
From  with  lahvah.  There  may  be  strife  and  tumult 
and  the  darkness  of  ignorance  and  passion  upon  earth ; 
but  the  star  of  truth  shines  in  the  firmament  of  heaven, 
and  the  eye  of  the  inspired  man  sees  it.  This  is  his 
difference  from  his  fellows. 

Hear  ye  the  words  of  this  covenant,  and  speak  ye  unto 
the  men  of  Judah,  and  upon  the  dwellers  in  Jerusalem  ! 
And  say  thou  unto  them.    Thus  saith  lahvah,  the  God 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  251 

of  Israel^  Accursed  are  the  men  that  hear  not  the 
words  of  this  covenant,  which  I  lay  on  your  fathers, 
in  the  day  that  I  brought  them  forth  from  the  land 
of  Egypt,  from  the  furnace  of  iron,  saying,  Hearken 
unto  My  voice,  and  do  these  things,  according  to  all 
that  I  shall  charge  you  :  that  ye  may  become  for  Me  a 
people,  and  that  I  Myself  may  become  for  you  a  God. 
That  I  may  make  good  {u^^rh  vid.  infr.)  the  oath 
which  I  sware  to  your  forefathers,  that  I  would  give 
them  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  as  it  now 
is  (or  simply,  to-day).  And  I  answered  and  said, 
Amen,  lahvah!  (xi.  I-5).  "Hear  ye  .  .  .  speak  ye 
unto  the  men  of  Judah ! "  The  occasion  referred  to 
is  that  memorable  crisis  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  king 
Josiah,  when  Hilkiah  the  high  priest  had  "  found  the 
book  of  the  law  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  "  (2  Kings 
xxii.  8  5^^.),  and  the  pious  king  had  read  in  the  hear- 
ing of  the  assembled  people  those  fervid  exhortations 
to  obedience,  those  promises  fraught  with  all  manner  of 
blessing,  those  terrible  denunciations  of  wrath  and  ruin 
reserved  for  rebeUion  and  apostasy,  which  we  may  still 
read  in  the  closing  chapters  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy 
(Deut.  xxvii.  sq.^.  Jeremiah  is  recalling  the  events  of 
his  own  ministry,  and  passes  in  rapid  review  from  the 
time  of  his  preaching  upon  the  Book  of  the  Law,  to  the 
Chaldean  invasion  in  the  reign  of  Jehoiachin  (xiii.  18 
5^^.).  He  recalls  the  solemn  occasion  when  king  and 
people  bound  themselves  by  oath  to  observe  the  law  of 
their  God  ;  when  *'  the  king  stood  upon  the  platform, 
and  made  the  covenant  before  lahvah,  that  he  would 
follow  lahvah,  and  keep  his  commandments,  and  his 
laws  and  his  statutes,  with  whole  heart  and  with  whole 
soul ;  to  make  good  (D^pn^)  the  words  of  this  covenant, 
that  were  written  upon  this  roll ;  and  all  the  people 


252  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

Stood  to  the  covenant "  (2  Kings  xxiii.  3).  At  or  soon 
after  this  great  meeting,  the  prophet  gives,  in  the  name 
of  lahvah,  an  emphatic  approval  to  the  pubUc  under- 
taking ;  and  bids  the  leaders  in  the  movement  not  to 
rest  contented  with  this  good  beginning,  but  to  impress 
the  obligation  more  deeply  upon  the  community  at 
large,  by  sending  a  mission  of  properly  qualified  persons, 
including  himself,  which  should  at  once  enforce  the 
reforms  necessitated  by  the  covenant  of  strict  obedience 
to  the  Law,  and  reconcile  the  people  both  of  the  capital 
and  of  the  rural  towns  and  hamlets  to  the  sudden  and 
sweeping  changes  demanded  of  them,  by  shewing  their 
entire  consonance  with  the  Divine  precepts.  '*  Hear 
ye  " — princes  and  priests — "  the  words  of  this  covenant ; 
and  speak  ^^  unto  the  men  of  Judah!"  Then  follows, 
in  brief,  the  prophet's  own  commission,  which  is  to 
reiterate,  with  all  the  force  of  his  impassioned  rhetoric, 
the  awful  menaces  of  the  Sacred  Book :  Cursed  be 
the  men  that  hear  not  the  words  of  this  covenant! 
Now  again,  in  these  last  years  of  their  national  exist- 
ence, the  chosen  people  are  to  hear  an  authoritative 
proclamation  of  that  Divine  Law  upon  which  all  their 
weal  depends ;  the  Law  given  them  at  the  outset  of 
their  history,  when  the  memory  of  the  great  deliver- 
ance was  yet  fresh  in  their  minds ;  the  Law  which  was 
the  condition  of  their  peculiar  relation  to  the  Universal 
God.  At  Sinai  they  had  solemnly  undertaken  to 
observe  that  Law ;  and  lahweh  had  fulfilled  His  promise 
to  their  "fathers" — to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  — 
and  had  given  them  a  goodly  land,  in  which  they  had 
now  been  established  for  at  least  six  hundred  years. 
The  Divine  truth  and  righteousness  were  manifest  upon 
a  retrospect  of  this  long  period  of  eventful  history; 
and  Jeremiah  could  not  withhold  his  inward  assent,  in 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT,  253 

the  formula  prescribed  by  the  Book  of  the  Law  (Deut. 
xxvii.  15  sqq?)^  to  the  perfect  justice  of  the  sentence: 
"  Cursed  be  the  men  that  hear  not  the  words  of  this 
covenant."  And  I  answered  and  said,  Amen,  lahvah  !  ^ 
So  to  this  true  Israehte,  thus  deeply  communing 
with  his  own  spirit,  two  things  had  become  clear  as 
day.  The  one  was  the  absolute  righteousness  of  God's 
entire  dealing  with  Israel,  from  first  to  last ;  the  righte- 
ousness of  disaster  and  overthrow  as  well  as  of  victory 
and  prosperity :  the  other  was  his  own  present  duty 
to  bring  this  truth  home  to  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  his  fellow-countrymen.  This  is  how  he  states  the 
fact :  And  lahvah  said  unto  me,  Proclaim  thou  all 
these  words  in  the  cities  of  Judah  and  in  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem,  saying,  Hear  ye  the  words  of  this  covenant 
and  do  them.  For  I  earnestly  adjured  your  fathers, 
when  I  brought  them  up  from  the  land  of  Egypt  (and 
I  have  done  so  continually^  even  unto  this  very  day, 
saying,  Obey  ye  My  voice  !  And  they  obeyed  not^  nor 
inclined  their  ear;  and  they  walked,  each  and  all,  in 
the  hardness  of  their  wicked  heart.  So  I  brought  upon 
them  all  the  threats  (lit.  words)  of  this  covenant,  which 
I  had  charged  them  to  keep,  and  they  kept  it  not. 
(xi.  6-8).  God  is  always  self-consistent;  man  is 
often  inconsistent  with  himself;  God  is  eternally  true, 
man  is  ever  giving  fresh  proofs  of  his  natural  faithless- 
ness. God  is  not  only  just  in  keeping  His  promises  ; 
He  is  also  merciful,  in  labouring  ever  to  induce  man  to 
be  self-consistent,  and  true  to  moral  obligations.  And 
Divine  mercy  is  revealed  alike  in  the  pleadings  of  the 


^  But  perhaps  it  is  rather  the  prophet's  love  for  his  people,  which 
fervently  prays  that  the  oath  of  blessing  may  be  observed,  and  Judah 
maintained  in  the  goodly  land. 


254  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

Holy  Spirit  by  the  mouth  of  prophets,  by  the  voice  of 
conscience,  and  in  the  retribution  that  overtakes  per- 
sistence in  evil.  The  Divine  Law  is  life  and  health  to 
them  that  keep  it;  it  is  death  to  them  that  break  it. 
"  Thou,  Lord,  art  merciful ;  for  thou  rewardest  every 
man  according  to  his  works." 

The  relation  of  the  One  God  to  this  one  people 
was  neither  accidental  nor  arbitrary.  It  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  a  thing  glaringly  unjust  to  the  other 
nations  of  the  ancient  world,  that  the  Father  of  all 
should  have  chosen  Israel  only  to  be  the  recipient  of 
His  special  favours.  Sometimes  it  is  demanded,  as  an 
unanswerable  dilemma,  How  could  the  Universal  God 
be  the  God  of  the  Jews,  in  the  restricted  sense  implied 
by  the  Old  Testament  histories  ?  But  difficulties  of 
this  kind  rest  upon  misunderstanding,  due  to  a  slavishly 
literal  interpretation  of  certain  passages,  and  inability 
to  take  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  general  drift  and 
tenor  of  the  Old  Testament  writings  as  they  bear  upon 
this  subject.  God's  choice  of  Israel  was  proof  of  His 
love  for  mankind.  He  did  not  select  one  people,  be- 
cause He  was  indifferent  or  hostile  to  all  other  peoples ; 
but  because  He  wished  to  bring  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  to  the  knowledge  of  Himself,  and  the  observance 
of  His  law.  The  words  of  our  prophet  shew  that 
he  was  profoundly  convinced  that  the  favour  of 
lahvah  had  from  the  outset  depended  upon  the  obe- 
dience of  Israel :  Hearken  unto  My  voice,  and  do  these 
things  ....  that  ye  may  become  for  Me  a  people, 
and  that  I  Myself  may  become  for  you  a  God.  How 
strangely  must  such  words  have  sounded  in  the  ears 
of  people  who  believed,  as  the  masses  both  in  town 
and  country  appear  for  the  most  part  to  have  done, 
that   lahvah  as    the  ancestral  god  was  bound  by  an 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  255 

indissoluble  tie  to  Israel,  and  that  He  could  not  suffer 
the  nation  to  perish  without  incurring  irreparable  loss, 
if  not  extinction,  for  Himself!  It  is  as  if  the  prophet 
had  said :  You  call  yourselves  the  people  of  God ;  but 
it  is  not  so  much  that  you  are  His  people,  as  that  you 
may  become  such  by  doing  His  will.  You  suppose 
that  lahvah,  the  Eternal,  the  Creator,  is  to  you  what 
Chemosh  is  to  Moah,  or  Molech  to  Ammon,  or  Baal  to 
Tyre ;  but  that  is  just  what  He  is  not.  If  you  enter- 
tain such  ideas  of  lahvah,  you  are  worshipping  a 
figment  of  your  own  carnal  imaginations  ;  your  god 
is  not  the  Universal  God  but  a  gross  unspiritual  idol. 
It  is  only  upon  your  fulfilment  of  His  conditions,  only 
upon  your  yielding  an  inward  assent  to  His  law,  a 
hearty  acceptance  to  His  rule  of  life,  that  He  Himself 
—the  One  only  God — can  truly  become  your  God.  In 
accepting  His  law,  you  accept  Him,  and  in  rejecting 
His  law,  you  reject  Him  ;  for  His  law  is  a  reflexion 
of  Himself;  a  revelation,  so  far  as  such  can  be  made 
to  a  creature  like  man,  of  His  essential  being  and 
character.  Therefore  think  not  that  you  can  worship 
Him  by  mere  external  rites  ;  for  the  true  worship  is 
"  righteousness,  and  holiness  of  life." 

The  progress  of  the  reforming  movement,  which  was 
doubtless  powerfully  stimulated  by  the  preaching  of 
Jeremiah,  is  briefly  sketched  in  the  chapter  of  the  book 
of  Kings,  to  which  I  have  already  referred  (2  Kings 
xxiii.).  That  summary  of  the  good  deeds  of  king  Josiah 
records  apparently  a  very  complete  extirpation  of  the 
various  forms  of  idolatry,  and  even  a  slaughter  of  the 
idol-priests  upon  their  own  altars.  Heathenism,  it 
would  seem,  could  hardly  have  been  practised  again, 
at  least  openly,  during  the  twelve  remaining  years  of 
Josiah.      But    although    a   zealous    king  might  enforce 


256  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

outward  conformity  to  the  Law,  and  although  the 
earnest  preaching  of  prophets  Hke  Zephaniah  and  Jere- 
miah might  have  considerable  effect  with  the  better 
part  of  the  people,  the  fact  remained  that  those  whose 
hearts  were  really  open  to  the  word  of  the  Lord  were 
still,  as  always,  a  small  minority;  and  the  tendency 
to  apostasy,  though  checked,  was  far  from  being  rooted 
up.  Here  and  there  the  forbidden  rites  were  secretly 
observed ;  and  the  harsh  measures  which  had  accom- 
panied their  public  suppression  may  very  probably 
have  intensified  the  attachment  of  many  to  the  local 
forms  of  worship.  Sincere  conversions  are  not  effected 
by  violence ;  and  the  martyrdom  of  devotees  may  give 
new  life  even  to  degraded  and  utterly  immoral  super- 
stitions. The  transient  nature  of  Josiah's  reformation, 
radical  as  it  may  have  appeared  at  the  time  to  the 
principal  agents  engaged  in  it,  is  evident  from  the 
testimony  of  Jeremiah  himself.  And  lahvah  said 
unto  me,  There  exists  a  conspiracy  among  the  men  of 
Judah,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem.  They 
have  returned  to  the  old  sins  of  their  fathers^  who 
refused  to  hear  My  words;  and  they  too  have  gone 
away  after  other  gods^  to  serve  them:  the  house  of 
Israel  and  the  house  of  Judah  have  broken  My  cove- 
nant^ which  I  made  with  their  forefathers.  Therefore 
thus  saith  lahvah^  Behold  I  am  about  to  bring  unto 
them  an  evil  from  which  they  cannot  get  forth ;  and 
they  will  cry  unto  Me,  and  I  will  not  listen  unto  them. 
And  the  cities  of  Judah  and  the  inhabitants  of  Jeru- 
salem will  go  and  cry  unto  the  gods  to  whom  they  burn 
incense  (i.e.,  now;  ptcp.)/  and  they  will  yield  them  no 
help  at  all  in  the  time  of  their  evil.  For  many  as  thy 
cities  are  thy  gods  become,  O  Judah  !  and  many  as  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem    have  ye   appointed  altars  to  the 


xi.,xii.J  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  257 

Shame,  altars  for  burning  incense  to  the  Baal.  And 
as  for  thee,  intercede  thou  not  for  this  people,  nor 
lift  up  for  them  outcry  (i.e.,  mourning)  and  interces- 
sion; for  I  intend  not  to  hearken,  in  the  time  when 
they  call  unto  Me,  in  the  time  of  their  evil  (so  read : 
cf.  vers.  12,  nrn  instead  of  nra)  (vv.  9-14).  All 
this  appears  to  indicate  the  course  of  the  prophet's 
reflexion,  after  it  had  become  clear  to  him  that  the 
reformation  was  illusory,  and  that  his  own  labours  had 
failed  of  their  purpose.  He  calls  the  relapse  of  the 
people  a  plot  or  conspiracy ;  thereby  suggesting,  per- 
haps, the  secresy  with  which  the  prohibited  worships 
were  at  first  revived,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  unfaithful 
nobles  and  priests  and  prophets,  in  order  to  bring 
about  a  reversal  of  the  policy  of  reform,  and  a  return 
to  the  old  system  ;  and  certainly  suggesting  that  the 
heart  of  the  nation,  as  a  whole,  was  disloyal  to  its 
Heavenly  King,  and  that  its  renewed  apostasy  was 
a  wicked  disavowal  of  lawful  allegiance,  and  an  act  of 
unpardonable  treason  against  God. 

But  the  word  further  signifies  that  a  bond  has  been 
entered  into,  a  bond  which  is  the  exact  antithesis  of  the 
covenant  with  lahvah  ;  and  it  implies  that  this  bond 
has  about  it  a  fatal  strength  and  permanence,  involving 
as  its  necessary  consequence  the  ruin  of  the  nation. 
Breaking  covenant  with  lahvah  meant  making  a  cove- 
nant with  other  gods ;  it  was  impossible  to  do  the  one 
thing  without  the  other.  And  that  is  as  true  now, 
under  totally  different  conditions,  as  it  was  in  the  land 
of  Judah,  twenty-four  centuries  ago.  If  you  have  broken 
faith  with  God  in  Christ,  it  is  because  you  have  entered 
into  an  agreement  with  another;  it  is  because  you 
have  foolishly  taken  the  tempter  at  his  word,  and 
accepted  his  conditions,  and  surrendered  to  his  pro- 

17 


2S8  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

posals,  and  preferred  his  promises  to  the  promises  of 
God.  It  is  because,  against  all  reason,  against  con- 
science, against  the  Holy  Spirit,  against  the  witness 
of  God's  Word,  against  the  witness  of  His  Saints  and 
Confessors  in  all  ages,  you  have  believed  that  a  Being 
less  than  the  Eternal  God  could  ensure  your  weal  and 
make  you  happy.  And  now  your  heart  is  no  longer 
at  unity  in  itself,  and  your  allegiance  is  no  longer 
single  and  undivided.  Many  as  thy  cities  are  thy 
gods  become,  O  Judah  !  The  soul  that  is  not  unified 
and  harmonized  by  the  fear  of  the  One  God,  is  torn 
and  distracted  by  a  thousand  contending  passions : 
and  vainly  seeks  peace  and  deliverance  by  worship  at 
a  thousand  unholy  shrines.  But  Mammon  and  Belial 
and  Ashtaroth  and  the  whole  rout  of  unclean  spirits, 
whose  seductions  have  lured  you  astray,  will  fail  you 
at  last ;  and  in  the  hour  of  bitter  need,  you  will  learn 
too  late  that  there  is  no  god  but  God,  and  no  peace  nor 
safety  nor  joy  but  in  Him. 

It  is  futile  to  pray  for  those  who  have  deliberately 
cast  off  the  covenant  of  lahvah,  and  made  a  covenant 
with  His  adversary.  Intercede  not  for  this  people^  nor 
lift  up  outcry  and  intercession  for  them  !  Prayer  cannot 
save,  nothing  can  save,  the  impenitent ;  and  there 
is  a  state  of  mind,  in  which  one's  own  prayer  is 
turned  into  sin ;  the  state  of  mind  in  which  a  man 
prays,  merely  to  appease  God,  and  escape  the  fire,  but 
without  a  thought  of  forsaking  sin,  without  the  faintest 
aspiration  after  holiness.  There  is  a  degree  of  guilt 
upon  which  sentence  is  already  passed,  which  is  "  unto 
death,"  and  for  which  intercession  is  interdicted  alike 
by  the  Apostle  of  the  New  as  to  the  prophet  of  the 
Old  Covenant. 

What  availeth  it  My   beloved^   that  she  fulfilleth  her 


xL,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  259 

intent  in  Mine  house  ?     Can    vows  and  hallowed  flesh 
make  thine  evil  to  pass  from  thee  ?     Then  mightest  thou 
indeed  rejoice^  (y^Y.  15).     Such  appears  to  be  the  true 
sense  of  this  verse,  the  only  difficult  one  in  the  chapter. 
The  prophet  had  evidently  the  same  thought  in   his 
mind  as  in  ver.   1 1 :  /  will  bring  unto   them  an  evil, 
from    which   they   cannot  get  forth;   and  they  will  cry 
nnto   Me,    and  I  will  not  hearken    unto    them.       The 
words  also  recall  those  of  Isaiah  (Isa.  i.  11  sqq.) :  ^'For 
what  to   Me  are  your  many  sacrifices,  saith  lahvah  ? 
When  ye  enter  in   to  see  My  face,  who  hath  sought 
this  at  your  hand,  to  trample  My  courts  ?     Bring  no 
more  a  vain  oblation ;   loathly  incense  it  is  to  Me  ! " 
The   term   which    I   have   rendered   "intent,"  usually 
denotes   an  evil   intention;  so    that,    Hke    Isaiah,  our 
prophet  implies  that  the  popular  worship  is  not  only 
futile  but  sinful.     So  true  it  is  that  '^  He  that  turneth 
away  his  ear  from  hearing  the  law,  even  his  prayer  is 
an  abomination"  (Pro v.  xxviii.  9);  or,  as  the  Psalmist 

'  Hitzig  supposed  that  the  "vows"  and  "hallowed  flesh"  were 
thank-offerings  for  the  departure  of  the  Scythians.  "  It  is  plain  that 
the  people  are  really  present  in  the  temple;  they  bring,  presumably 
after  the  retreat  of  the  Scythians,  the  offerings  vowed  at  that  time." 
But,  considering  the  context,  the  reference  appears  to  be  more  general. 
I  have  partly  followed  the  LXX.  in  emending  an  obviously  corrupt 
verse  ;  the  only  one  in  the  chap,  which  presents  any  textual  difficulty 

Read:  nnr^  t^^ip  1^2)  Dni3n  nnr^Tcn  nnSm  *nu3  nn^^  no 

:  V  >-Vn  TN  ^ppVl  \p?^rp.  The  article  with  Jnoun  with  suffix,  and 
the  peculiar  form  of  the  2  pers.  pron.  f.,  are  found  elsewhere  in  Jer. 
But  I  incline  to  correct  further  thus:  "What  avail  to  My  beloved 
IS  her  dealing  (or  sacrificing:  ^^f^  2  Kings  xvii.  32)  in  My  house? 
)y)  ^IP  T^Zll  D^ -inn  nin?tpn,  "  Can  the  many  altars  (ver.  13)  and 
hallowed  flesh  cause  thine  evil  to  pass  away  from  thee  (or  pass  thee 
by)?"  This  seems  very  apposite  to  what  precedes.  The  Hebrew, 
as  it  stands,  cannot  possibly  mean  what  we  read  both  in  the  A.  V. 
and  R.  V.,  nor  indeed  anything  else. 


26o  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

puts  the  same  truth,  '^  If  I  incline  unto  wickedness  with 
my  heart,  the  Lord  will  not  hear  me." 

A  flourishing  olive^  fair  with  shapely  fmit,  did 
lahvah  call  thy  name.  To  the  sound  of  a  great  uproar 
will  He  set  her  on  fire ;  and  his  hanging  boughs  will 
crackle  {in  the  flames).  And  lahvah  Sabaoth,  that 
planted  thee^  Himself  hath  pronounced  evil  upon  thee; 
because  of  the  evil  of  the  house  of  Israel  and  the  house  of 
Judah,  which  they  have  done  to  themselves  (iv.  1 8,  vii.  19) 
in  provoking  Me^  in  burning  incense  to  the  Baal" 
(vers.  16-17).  The  figure  of  the  olive  seems  a  very 
natural  one  (cf  Rom.  xi.  ly),  when  we  remember  the 
beauty  and  the  utility  for  which  that  tree  is  famous 
in  Eastern  lands.  lahvah  called  thy  name;  that  is, 
called  thee  into  determinate  being  ;  endowed  thee  at 
thine  origin  with  certain  characteristic  qualities.  Thine 
original  constitution,  as  thou  didst. leave  thy  Maker's 
hand,  was  fair  and  good.  Israel  among  the  nations 
was  as  beautiful  to  the  eye  as  the  olive  among  trees ; 
and  his  "  fruit,"  his  doings,  were  a  glory  to  God  and 
a  blessing  to  men,  like  that  precious  oil,  for  "  which 
God  and  man  honour  "  the  olive  (Judg.  ix.  9).  (Zech. 
iv.  3 ;  Hos.  xiv.  7 ;  Ps.  Hi.  10.)  But  now  the  noble 
stock  had  degenerated ;  the  "green  olive  tree,"  planted 
in  the  very  court  of  lahvah's  house,  had  become  no 
better  than  a  barren  wilding,  fit  only  for  the  fire. 
The  thought  is  essentially  similar  to  that  of  an  earlier 
discourse  :  "  I  planted  thee  a  noble  vine,  wholly  a  right 
seed  ;  how  then  hast  thou  turned  into  the  degenerate 
plant  of  a  strange  vine  unto  Me  ?  "  (ii.  21).  Here,  there 
is  an  abrupt  transition,  which  forcibly  expresses  the 
suddenness  of  the  destruction  that  must  devour  this 
degenerate  people :  To  the  sound  of  a  great  uproar 
— the   din   of  invading   armies — he   will  set  her  (the 


2d.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  261 

beloved,  symbolized  by  the  tree)  on  fire;  and  his  (the 
olive's)  hanging  boughs  will  crackle  in  the  flames.     And 
this  fierce  work  of  a  barbarous  soldiery  is  no  chance 
calamity ;  it  is   the  execution  of  a  Divine  judgment : 
lahvah    Sabaoth  .  .  .  Himself    hath    pronounced    evil 
upon   thee.     And   yet  further,  it  is  the  nation's   own 
doing;    the   two   houses   of    Israel   have   persistently 
laboured  for  their  own  ruin ;  they  have  brought  it  upon 
themselves.     Man  is  himself  the  author  of  his  own  weal 
and  woe  ;  and  they  who  are  not  "  working  out  their 
own  salvation,"  are  working  out  their  own  destruction. 
And  it  was    lahvah    that   gave   Me   knowledge,    so 
that  I  well  knew;   at  that  time,   Thou  didst  shew  me 
their  doings.     But,  for  myself ,  like  a  favourite  (lit.  tame, 
friendly,  gentle  :  iii.  4)  lamb  that  is  led  to  the  slaughter, 
I  wist  not  that  against  me  they  had  laid  a  plot.     *  Let 
us  fell  the  tree  in  its  prinie^  and  let  us  cut  him  off  out 
of  the  land  of  the  living,  that  his  name  be  remembered 
no   more!     '  Yea,    but  lahvah  ^   Sabaoth  judgeth  right- 
eously,  trieth  reins   and  heart.     I  shall  see    Thy  ven- 
geance  on  them;  for  unto   Thee  have  I  laid  bare  my 
cause  J     Therefore  thus  said  lahvah;  Upon  the  men  of 
Anathoth  that  were  seeking  thy  life,  saying,   Thou  shall 
not  prophesy  in  the  name  of  lahvah,  that  thou  die  not 
by   our    hand'. — therefore    thus    said    lahvah   Sabaoth, 
Behold  I  am    about  to  visit  it   upon  them :   the  young 
men  will  die  by  the  sword;  their  sons  and  their  daughters 
will  die  by  the  famine.     And  a  remnant  they  shall  not 
have  :  for  I  will  bring  an  evil  unto  the  men  of  Anathoth, 
the  year  of  their  visitation  (w.  18-23). 


'  Reading  in??,  with  Hitzig,  instead  of  iOnS?,  which  is  meaningless. 
Deut.  xxxiv.  7  ;  Ezek.  xxi.  3.  Perhaps  it  would  be  better  to  keep  all  the 
letters,  and  point  "iJOnl??,  understanding  \Xl  as  collective,  "the  trees." 

*  Not  a  vocative :  xx.  12,  xviL  10. 


262  "  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

The  prophet,  it  would  seem,  had  made  the  round 
of  the  country  places,  and  come  to  Anathoth,  on  his 
return  journey  to  Jerusalem.  Here,  in  his  native  town, 
he  proclaimed  to  his  own  people  that  same  solemn 
message  which  he  had  delivered  to  the  country  at 
large.  It  is  very  probable  that  the  preceding  verses 
(9-17)  contain  the  substance  of  his  address  to  his 
kinsfolk  and  acquaintance ;  an  address  which  stirred 
them,  not  to  repentance  towards  God  but  to  murderous 
wrath  against  His  prophet.  A  plot  was  laid  for  Jere- 
miah's life  by  his  own  neighbours  and  even  his  own 
family  (xii.  6) ;  and  he  owed  his  escape  to  some  provi- 
dential circumstance,  some  "lucky  accident,"  as  men 
might  say,  which  revealed  to  him  their  unsuspected 
perfidy.  What  the  event  was  which  thus  suddenly 
disclosed  the  hidden  danger,  is  not  recorded ;  and  the 
whole  episode  is  rather  alluded  to  than  described.  But 
it  is  clear  that  the  prophet  knew  nothing  about  the 
plot,  until  it  was  ripe  for  execution.  He  was  as 
wholly  unconscious  of  the  death  prepared  for  him,  as 
a  petted  lamb  on  the  way  to  the  altar.  "Then  " — when 
his  fate  seemed  sure — then  it  was  that  something 
happened  by  which  "  lahvah  gave  him  knowledge," 
and  "shewed  him  their  doings."  The  thought  or  saying 
attributed  to  his  enemies,  "  Let  us  fell  the  tree(s)  in 
the  prime  thereof!"  may  contain  a  sarcastic  allusion 
really  made  to  the  prophet's  own  warning  (ver.  16) : 
"A  flourishing  olive,  fair  with  shapely  fruit,  did 
lahvah  call  thy  name  :  to  the  noise  of  a  great  uproar 
will  He  set  it  on  fire,  and  the  branches  thereof  shall 
crackle  in  the  flames."  The  words  that  follow  (ver.  20), 
"yea,  but  (or,  and  yet)  lahvah  Sabaoth  judgeth  right- 
eously ;  trieth  reins  and  heart "  (cf.  xx.  1 2),  is  the 
prophet's  reply,  in  the  form  of  an  unexpressed  thought, 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  263 


or  a  hurried  ejaculation  upon  discovering  their  deadly 
malice.  The  timely  warning  which  he  had  received, 
was  fresh  proof  to  him  of  the  truth  that  human  designs 
are,  after  all  that  their  authors  can  do,  dependent  on 
the  will  of  an  Unseen  Arbiter  of  events  ;  and  the  Divine 
justice,  thus  manifested  towards  himself,  inspired  a  con- 
viction that  those  hardened  and  bloodthirsty  sinners 
would,  sooner  or  later,  experience  in  their  own  destruc- 
tion that  display  of  the  same  Divine  attribute  which 
was  necessary  to  its  complete  manifestation.  It  was 
this  conviction,  rather  than  personal  resentment,  how- 
ever excusable  under  the  circumstances  that  feeling 
would  have  been,  which  led  Jeremiah  to  exclaim  :  ''I 
shall  see  Thy  vengeance  on  them,  for  unto  Thee  have 
I  laid  bare  my  cause!" 

He  had  appealed  to  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth, 
that  doeth  right ;  and  he  knew  the  innocency  of  his 
own  heart  in  the  quarrel.  He  was  certain,  therefore, 
that  his  cause  would  one  day  be  vindicated,  when  that 
ruin  overtook  his  enemies,  of  which  he  had  warned 
them  in  vain.  Looked  at  in  this  light,  his  words  are  a 
confident  assertion  of  the  Divine  justice,  not  a  cry  for 
vengeance.  They  reveal  what  we  may  perhaps  call 
the  human  basis  of  the  formal  prophecy  which  follows  ; 
they  shew  by  what  steps  the  prophet's  mind  was  led  on 
to  the  utterance  of  a  sentence  of  destruction  upon  the 
men  of  Anathoth.  That  Jeremiah's  invectives  and 
threatenings  of  wrath  and  ruin  should  provoke  hatred 
and  opposition  was  perhaps  not  wonderful.  Men  in 
general  are  slow  to  recognise  their  own  moral  short- 
comings, to  believe  evil  of  themselves ;  and  they  are 
apt  to  prefer  advisers,  whose  optimism,  though  ill- 
founded  and  misleading,  is  pleasant  and  reassuring  and 
confirmatory  of  their   own   prejudices.      But   it   does 


264  THE   PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

seem  strange  that  it  should  have  been  reserved  for  the 
men  of  his  own  birthplace,  his  own  *'  brethren  and  his 
father's  house/'  to  carry  opposition  to  the  point  of 
meditated  murder.  Once  more  Jeremiah  stands  before 
us,  a  visible  type  of  Him  whose  Divine  wisdom  declared 
that  a  prophet  finds  no  honour  in  his  own  country, 
and  whose  life  was  attempted  on  that  Sabbath  day  at 
Nazareth  (St.  Luke  iv.  24  sqq^. 

The  sentence  was  pronounced,  but  the  cloud  of 
dejection  was  not  at  once  lifted  from  the  soul  of  the 
seer.  He  knew  that  justice  must  in  the  end  overtake 
the  guilty ;  but,  in  the  meantime,  *'  his  enemies  lived 
and  were  mighty,"  and  their  criminal  designs  against 
himself  remained  unnoticed  and  unpunished.  The 
more  he  brooded  over  it,  the  more  difficult  it  seemed 
to  reconcile  their  prosperous  immunity  with  the  justice 
of  God.  He  has  given  us  the  course  of  his  reflections 
upon  this  painful  question,  ever  suggested  anew  by  the 
facts  of  life,  never  sufficiently  answered  by  toiling 
reason.  Too  righteous  art  Thou,  lahvah,  for  me  to 
contend  with  Thee :  I  will  but  lay  arguments  before 
Thee  (i.e.,  argue  the  case  forensically).  Wherefore  doth 
the  way  of  the  wicked  prosper?  Wherefore  are  they 
undisturbed,  all  that  deal  very  treacherously?  Thou 
plantest  them,  yea,  they  take  root;  they  grow  ever, 
yea,  they  bear  fruit :  Thou  art  nigh  in  their  mouth,  and 
far  from  their  reins.  And  Thou,  lahvah,  knowest  me; 
Thou  seest  me,  and  triest  mine  heart  in  Thy  mind. 
Separate  them  like  sheep  for  the  slaughter,  and  conse- 
crate them  for  the  day  of  killing  I  How  long  shall  the 
land  mourn,  and  the  herbage  of  all  the  country  wither  ? 
Fi'om  the  evil  of  the  dwellers  therein,  beasts  and  birds 
perish :  for  they  have  said  (or,  thought).  He  cannot  see 
our  end  (xii.  1-4).     It  is  not  merely  that  his  would- 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  26$ 

be  murderers  thrive ;  it  is  that  they  take  the  holy 
Name  upon  their  unclean  lips;  it  is  that  they  are 
hypocrites  combining  a  pretended  respect  for  God,  with 
an  inward  and  thorough  indifference  to  God.  He  is 
nigh  in  their  mouth  and  far  from  their  reins.  They 
^'  honour  Him  with  their  lips,  but  have  removed  their 
heart  far  from  Him ;  and  their  worship  of  Him  is  a 
mere  human  commandment,  learned  by  rote"  (Isa.  xxix. 
13).  They  swear  by  His  Name,  when  they  are  bent 
on  deception  (ch.  v.  2).  It  is  all  this  which  especially 
rouses  the  prophet's  indignation ;  and  contrasting  there- 
with his  own  conscious  integrity  and  faithfulness  to 
the  Divine  law,  he  calls  upon  Divine  Justice  to  judge 
between  himself  and  them  :  Pull  them  out  like  sheep 
for  slaughter^  and  consecrate  them  (set  them  apart — 
from  the  rest  of  the  flock)  for  the  day  of  killing !  It 
has  been  said  that  Jeremiah  throughout  this  whole 
paragraph  speaks  not  as  a  prophet  but  as  a  private 
individual ;  and  that  in  this  verse  especially  he  "  gives 
way  to  the  natural  man,  and  asks  the  life  of  his 
enemies"  (i  Kings  iii.  11;  Job  xxxi.  30).  This  is 
perhaps  a  tenable  opinion.  We  have  to  bear  in  mind 
the  difference  of  standpoint  between  the  writers  of  the 
Old  Covenant  and  those  of  the  New.  Not  much  is 
said  by  the  former  about  the  forgiveness  of  injuries, 
about  withholding  the  hand  from  vengeance.  The 
most  ancient  law,  indeed,  contained  a  noble  precept, 
which  pointed  in  this  direction :  "  If  thou  meet  thine 
enemy's  ox  or  his  ass  going  astray,  thou  shalt  surely 
bring  it  back  to  him  again.  If  thou  see  the  ass  of  him 
that  hateth  thee  lying  under  his  burden,  and  wouldest 
forbear  to  help  him,  thou  shalt  surely  help  with  him  " 
(Ex.  xxiii.  4,  5).  And  in  the  book  of  Proverbs  we  read: 
"  Rejoice  not  when   thine  enemy  falleth.  And  let  not 


266  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

thine  heart  be  glad  when  he  is  overthrown."  But 
the  impression  of  magnanimity  thus  produced  is  some- 
what diminished  by  the  reason  which  is  added 
immediately :  "  Lest  the  Lord  see  it  and  it  displease 
Him,  And  He  turn  away  His  wrath  from  him : "  a 
motive  of  which  the  best  that  can  be  said  is  that  it 
is  characteristic  of  the  imperfect  morality  of  the  time 
(Prov.  xxiv.  ly  sq.).  The  same  objection  may  be 
taken  to  that  other  famous  passage  of  the  same  book : 
*'  If  thine  enemy  be  hungry,  give  him  bread  to  eat ; 
And  if  he  be  thirsty,  give  him  water  to  drink :  For 
thou  shalt  heap  coals  of  fire  upon  his  head.  And  the 
Lord  shall  reward  thee"  (Prov.  xxv.  21  sq.).  The 
reflexion  that  the  relief  of  his  necessities  will  mortify 
and  humiliate  an  enemy  to  the  utmost,  which  is  what 
seems  to  have  been  originally  meant  by  "heaping 
coals  of  fire  upon  his  head,"  however  practically  use- 
ful in  checking  the  wild  impulses  of  a  hot-blooded 
and  vindictive  race,  such  as  the  Hebrews  were,  and 
such  as  their  kindred  the  Bedawi  Arabs  have  remained 
to  this  day  under  a  system  of  faith  which  has  not 
said,  ^'  Love  your  enemies " ;  and  however  capable 
of  a  new  appHcation  in  the  more  enlightened  spirit 
of  Christianity  (Rom.  xii.  19  sqq.) ;  is  undoubtedly  a 
motive  marked  by  the  limitations  of  Old  Testament 
ethical  thought.  And  edifying  as  they  may  prove  to 
be,  when  understood  in  that  purely  spiritual  and 
universal  sense,  to  which  the  Church  has  lent  her 
authority,  how  many  of  the  psalms  were,  in  their 
primary  intention,  agonizing  cries  for  vengeance; 
prayers  that  the  human  victim  of  oppression  and  wrong 
might  "  see  his  desire  upon  his  enemies "  ?  All  this 
must  be  borne  in  mind  ;  but  there  are  other  considera- 
tions  also  which  must  not  be  omitted,   if  we  would 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  z'^*j 

get  at  the  exact  sense  of  our  prophet  in  the  passage 
before  us. 

We  must  remember  that  he  is  laying  a  case  before 
God.  He  has  admitted  at  the  outset  that  God  is 
absolutely  just,  in  spite  of  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
his  murderous  enemies  are  prosperous  and  unpunished. 
When  he  pleads  his  own  sincerity  and  purity  of  heart, 
in  contrast  with  the  lip-service  of  his  adversaries, 
it  is  perhaps  that  God  may  grant,  not  so  much  their 
perdition,  as  the  salvation  of  the  country  from  the 
evils  they  have  brought  and  are  bringing  upon  it. 
Ascribing  the  troubles  already  present  and  those  which 
are  yet  to  come,  the  desolations  which  he  sees  and 
those  which  he  foresees,  to  their  steady  persistence  in 
wickedness,  he  asks,  How  long  must  this  continue? 
Would  it  not  be  better,  would  it  not  be  more  con- 
sonant with  Divine  wisdom  and  righteousness  to  purify 
the  land  of  its  fatal  taint  by  the  sudden  destruction 
of  those  heinous  and  hardened  offenders,  who  scoff 
at  the  very  idea  of  a  true  forecast  of  their  ''end" 
(ver.  4)  ?  But  this  is  not  all.  There  would  be  more 
apparent  force  in  the  allegation  we  are  discussing 
if  it  were.  The  cry  to  heaven  for  an  immediate  act 
of  retributive  justice  is  not  the  last  thing  recorded  of 
the  prophet's  experience  on  this  occasion.  He  goes 
on  to  relate,  for  our  satisfaction,  the  Divine  answer 
to  his  questionings,  which  seems  to  have  satisfied 
his  own  troubled  mind.  If  thou  hast  run  but  with 
footracerSy  and  they  have  wearied  thee^  how  then 
wilt  thou  compete  with  the  coursers  ?  And  if  thy 
confidence  he  in  a  land  of  peace  (or,  a  quiet  land), 
how  then  wilt  thou  do  in  the  thickets  {jungles)  of 
Jordan  ?  ^       For    even    thine    own    brethren    and    thy 

1  That  "  the  sweUing  "  or  "  the  pride  of  Jordan  "  should  rather  be 


268  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

father's  house^  even  they  will  deal  treacherously  with 
thee ;  even  they  will  cry  aloud  after  thee  :  trust  thou  not 
in  them,  though  they  speak  thee  fair!  (xii.  5,  6).  The 
metaphors  convey  a  rebuke  of  impatience  and  pre- 
mature discouragement.  Hitzig  aptly  quotes  Demos- 
thenes :  "  If  they  cannot  face  the  candle,  what  will 
they  do  when  they  see  the  sun  ? "  {Plut.  de  vitioso 
pudore,  c.  5.)  It  is  "  the  voice  of  the  prophet's  better 
feeling,  and  of  victorious  self-possession/'  adds  the 
critic ;  and  we,  who  earnestly  believe  that,  of  the  two 
voices  which  plead  against  each  other  in  the  heart 
of  man,  the  voice  that  whispers  good  is  the  voice  of 
God,  find  it  not  hard  to  accept  his  statement  in  that 
sense.  The  prophet  is  giving  us  the  upshot  of  his 
reflexion  upon  the  terrible  danger  from  which  he 
had  been  mercifully  preserved  ;  and  we  see  that  his 
thoughts  were  guided  to  the  conclusion  that,  having 
once  accepted  the  Divine  Call,  it  would  be  unworthy 
to  abdicate  his  mission  on  the  first  signal  of  danger. 
Great  as  that  danger  had  been,  he  now,  in  his  calmer 
hour,  perceives  that,  if  he  is  to  fulfil  his  high  vocation, 
he  must  be  prepared  to  face  even  worse  things.  With 
serious  irony  he  asks  himself,  if  a  runner  who  is  over- 
come in  a  footrace  can  hope  to  outstrip  horses  ?  or 
how  a  man,  who  is  only  bold  where  no  danger  is,  will 
face  the  perils  that  lurk  in  the  jungles  of  the  Jordan  ? 
He  remembers  that  he  has  to  fight  a  more  arduous 
battle  and  on  a  greater  scene.  Jerusalem  is  more  than 
Anathoth ;  and  ''  the  kings  of  Judah  and  the  princes 
thereof"  are  mightier  adversaries  than  the  conspirators 

read  "the  wilds"  or  "jungles  of  Jordan,"  is  clear  from  xlix.  19; 
Zech.  xi.  3;  quoted  by  Hitzig.  jIN^  means  "growth,'"  "overgrowth," 
among  other  things ;  and  the  Heb.  phrase  coincides  with  the  'Idp^jyv 
^^vfidQ  of  Josephus  (Bell.  Jud.,  viL  6,  5). 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT,  269 

of  a   country  town.     And    his   present    escape   is   an 
earnest    of    deliverance    on    the    wider    field  :     They 
shall  fight    against   thee,    but    they    shall    not  prevail 
against    thee:  for   I  am    with    thee,    said   lahvah,    to 
deliver  thee  (see  i.  17-19).     But  to  a  deeply  affection- 
ate  and  sensitive  nature  like  Jeremiah's,  the  thought 
of  being    forsaken    by  his    own    kindred    might    well 
appear    as    a   trial    worse    than    death.       This   is  the 
''  contending  with  horses,"  the  struggle  that  is  almost 
beyond   the   powers   of  man   to   endure;  this   is   the 
deadly    peril,    Hke    that    of  venturing   into    the    lion- 
haunted  thickets  of  Jordan,  which  he  clearly  foresees 
as    awaiting   him  :    For  even   thine  own    brethren   and 
thy  father's  house,  even  they  will  deal  treacherously  with 
thee}      It  would    seem  that  the  prophet,   with  whose 
"  timidity "   some   critics   have    not   hesitated  to   find 
fault,  had  to   renounce   all   that   man    holds  dear,   as 
a    condition    of  faithfulness   to    his    call.      Again    we 
are  reminded    of  One,    of  whom    it    is  recorded    that 
"  Neither    did    His    brethren    believe    in    Him "    (St. 
John  vii.   5),  and  that  '*  His  friends  went  out  to  lay 
hold  on   Him,  for  they  said,  He  is  beside   Himself" 
(St.  Mark  iii.  21).     The  closeness  of  the  parallel  be- 
tween type  and  antitype,  between   the  sorrowful  pro- 
phet and  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  is  seen  yet  further  in 
the   words,  "  Even  they  will  cry  aloud  after  thee "  (lit. 
with  full  cry).     The  meaning  may  be  :  They  will  join 
in  the  hue  and  cry  of  thy  pursuers,  the  mad  shouts  of 

•  The  form  of  the  Heb.  verbs  implies  the  certainty  of  the  event. 
Hitzig  supposes  that  ver.  6  simply  explains  the  expression  "land 
of  peace"  in  ver.  5.  At  Anathoth  the  prophet  was  at  home;  if  he 
"ran  away"  (reading  11111  "fleest"  for  HDin  "art  confident") 
there,  what  would  he  do,  when  he  had  gone  forth  as  a  "  sheep  among 
wolves  ■'  (St.  Luke  x.  3)  ?  But  I  think  it  is  much  better  to  regard  ver.  6 
as  explaining  the  whole  of  ver.  5  in  the  manner  suggested  above. 


270  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

*'  Stop  him ! "  or  ''  Strike  him  down  ! "  such  as  may 
perhaps  have  rung  in  the  prophet's  ears  as  he  fled 
from  Anathoth.  But  we  may  also  understand  a  meta- 
phorical description  of  the  efforts  of  his  family  to  recall 
him  from  the  unpopular  path  on  which  he  had  entered ; 
and  this  perhaps  agrees  better  with  the  warning : 
**  Trust  them  not,  though  they  speak  thee  fair."  And 
understood  in  this  sense,  the  words  coincide  with 
what  is  told  us  in  the  Gospel  of  the  attempt  of  our 
Lord's  nearest  kin  to  arrest  the  progress  of  His  Divine 
mission,  when  His  mother  and  His  brethren  "  standing 
without,  sent  unto  Him,  calling  Him"  (St.  Mark  iii. 

30- 

The  lesson  for  ourselves  is  plain.     The  man  who 

listens  to  the  Divine  call,  and  makes  God  his  portion, 
must  be  prepared  to  surrender  everything  else.  He 
must  be  prepared,  not  only  to  renounce  much  which 
the  world  accounts  good ;  he  must  be  prepared  for  all 
kinds  of  opposition,  passive  and  active,  tacit  and 
avowed;  he  may  even  find,  like  Jeremiah,  that  his 
foes  are  the  members  of  his  own  household  (St.  Matt. 
X.  36).  And,  like  the  prophet,  his  acceptance  of  the 
Divine  call  binds  him  to  close  his  ears  against  en- 
treaties and  flatteries,  against  mockery  and  menace ; 
and  to  act  upon  his  Master's  word  :  "  If  any  man  would 
come  after  Me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his 
cross,  and  follow  Me.  For  whosoever  would  save  his 
life  shall  lose  it ;  and  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for 
My  sake  and  the  gospel's  shall  save  it"  (St.  Mark  viii. 
34  s^.).  "  If  any  man  come  unto  Me,  and  hate  not 
his  father  and  mother  and  wife  and  children  and 
brethren  and  sisters,  yea  and  his  own  life  also,  he  can- 
not be  My  disciple  "  (St.  Luke  xiv.  26).  A  great  prize 
is   worth   a   great   risk ;   and    eternal    life    is    a   prize 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  27 1 

infinitely  great.     It  is  therefore  worth  the  hazard  and 
the  sacrifice  of  all  (St.  Luke  xviii.  29  5^.). 

The  section  which  follows  (vv.  7-17)  has  ,been 
supposed  to  belong  to  the  time  of  Jehoiakim,  and  con- 
sequently to  be  out  of  place  here,  having  been  transposed 
from  its  original  context,  because  the  peculiar  Hebrew 
term  which  is  rendered  "  dearly  beloved  "  (ver.  7),  is 
akin  to  the  term  rendered  ''  My  beloved,"  chap.  xi.  15. 
But  this  supposition  depends  on  the  assumption  that 
the  ^'historical  basis  of  the  section"  is  to  be  found 
in  the  passage  2  Kings  xxiv.  »,  which  relates  briefly 
that  in  Jehoiakim's  time  plundering  bands  of  Chaldeans, 
Syrians,  Moabites  and  Ammonites  overran  the  country. 
The  prophecy  concerning  lahvah's  "  evil  neighbours  " 
is  understood  to  refer  to  these  marauding  inroads, 
and  is  accordingly  supposed  to  have  been  uttered 
between  the  eighth  and  the  eleventh  years  of  Jehoiakim 
(Hitzig).  It  has,  however,  been  pointed  out  (Naegels- 
bach)  that  the  prophet  does  not  once  name  the 
Chaldeans  in  the  present  discourse  ;  which  "  he  invari- 
ably does  in  all  discourses  subsequent  to  the  decisive 
battle  of  Carchemish  in  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim," 
which  gave  the  Chaldeans  the  sovereignty  of  Western 
Asia.  This  discourse  must,  therefore,  be  of  earlier 
date,  and  belong  either  to  the  first  years  of  Jehoiakim, 
or  to  the  time  immediately  subsequent  to  the  eighteenth 
of  Josiah.  The  history  as  preserved  in  Kings  and 
Chronicles  is  so  incomplete,  that  we  are  not  bound  to 
connect  the  reference  to  "  evil  neighbours  "  with  what 
is  so  summarily  told  in  2  Kings  xxiv.  2.  There  may 
have  been  other  occasions  when  Judah's  jealous  and 
watchful  enemies  profited  by  her  internal  weakness 
and  dissensions  to  invade  and  ravage  the  land ;  and 
throughout  the  whole  period  the  country  was  exposed 


272  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

to  the  danger  of  plundering  raids  by  the  wild  nomads 
of  the  eastern  and  southern  borders.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  vv.  14-17  are  a  later  postscript,  added 
by  the  prophet  when  he  wrote  his  book  in  the  fifth 
or  sixth  year  of  Jehoiakim  (xxxvi.  9,  32). 

There  is,  in  reality,  a  close  connexion  of  thought 
between  ver.  7  sqq.  and  what  precedes.  The  relations 
of  the  prophet  to  his  own  family  are  made  to  symboHse 
the  relations  of  lahvah  to  His  rebellious  people;  just 
as  a  former  prophet  finds  in  his  own  merciful  treat- 
ment of  a  faithless  wife  a  parable  of  lahvah's  dealings 
with  faithless  Israel.  I  have  forsaken  My  house,  I  have 
cast  away  My  domain;  I  have  given  My  soul's  love 
into  the  grasp  of  her  foes.  My  domain  hath  become 
to  Me  like  the  lion  in  the  wood;  she  hath  given  utter- 
ance with  her  voice  against  Me;  therefore  I  hate  her. 
It  is  lahvah  who  still  speaks,  as  in  ver.  6;  the 
"  house  "  is  His  holy  house, ^  the  temple ;  the  domain 
is  His  domain,  the  land  of  Judah ;  His  "  soul's  love," 
is  the  Jewish  people.  Yet  the  expressions,  ''  my 
house,"  "  my  domain,"  *^  my  soul's  love,"  equally  suit 
the  prophet's  own  family  and  their  estate  ;  the  mention 
of  the  ^*  lion  in  the  wood  "  and  its  threatening  roar, 
and  the  enmity  provoked  thereby,  recalls  what  was 
said  about  the  "wilds  of  the  Jordan"  in  ver.  5,  and 
the  full  outcry  of  his  kindred  after  the  prophet  in  ver. 
6 ;  and  the  solemn  words  "  I  have  forsaken  Mine  house, 
I  have  cast  away  My  domain"  ...  '4  hate  her," 
clearly  correspond  with  the  sentence  of  destruction 
upon  Anathoth,  ch.  xi.  21  sqq.  The  double  reference  of 
the  language  becomes  intelligible  when  we  remember 
that  in  rejecting  His  messengers,  Israel,  nay  mankind, 

'  Or  perhaps  rather  the  holy  land  itself,  as  Hitzig  §ug|ested  x  Hos, 
ix.15. 


xL.xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT,  273 


rejects  God  ;  and  that  words  and  deeds  done  and  uttered 
by  Divine  authority  may  be  ascribed  directly  to  God 
Himself.  And  regarded  in  the  light  of  the  prophet's 
commission  ''to  pluck  up  and  to  break  down,  and  to 
destroy  and  to  overthrow,  to  build  and  to  plant" 
nations  and  kingdoms  (i.  lo);  all  that  is  here  said  may 
be  taken  to  be  the  prophet's  own  deliverance  concerning 
his  country.  This,  at  all  events,  is  the  case  with 
verses  12,  13. 

What!  do  I  see  my  domain  (alt)  vultures  {and) 
hyenas  ?  ^  Are  vultures  all  around  her  ?  Go  ye, 
assemble  all  the  beasts  of  the  field !  Bring  them  to 
devour  (ver.  9).  The  questions  express  astonishment 
at  an  unlooked-for  and  unwelcome  spectacle.  The 
loss  of  Divine  favour  has  exposed  Judah  to  the  active 
hostility  of  man ;  and  her  neighbours  eagerly  fall  upon 
her,  like  birds  and  beasts  of  prey,  swarming  over  a 
helpless  quarry.  It  is — so  the  prophet  puts  it — it 
is  as  if  a  proclamation  had  gone  forth  to  the  wolves 
and  jackals  of  the  desert,  bidding  them  come  and 
devour  the  fallen  carcase.^  In  another  oracle  he 
speaks  of  the  heathen  as  "  devouring  Jacob  "  (x.  25). 
The  people  of  lahvah  are  their  natural  prey  (Ps.  xiv. 
4:  "who  eat  up  My  people  as  they  eat  bread");  but 
they  are  not  suffered  to  devour  them,  until  they  have 
forfeited  His  protection. 

*  Lit  "Is  my  domain  vultures,  hyenas,  to  me?"  The  dative  ex- 
presses the  interest  of  the  speaker  in  the  fact  (dat.  ethic).  The 
Heb.  term  I^IQV  only  occurs  here.  It  is  the  Arabic  dhabu,  "  hyena  "  (so 
Sept.).  St.  Jerome  renders  avis  discolor.  So  the  Targum :  "  a  strewn  " 
"sprinkled,"  or  "spotted  fowl." 

^  The  references  to  "  birds  of  prey,"  "  beasts  of  the  field,"  and 
"spoilers"  (ver.  12),  are  interpreted  by  the  phrase  "mine  evil  neigh- 
bours" (ver.  14);  and  this  constitutes  a  link  between  vv.  7-14 
and  14-17. 

18 


274  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  /EREMIAH 

The  image  is  now  exchanged  for  another,  which 
approximates  more  nearly  to  the  fact  pourtrayed. 
Many  shepherds  have  marred  My  vineyard;  they  have 
trodden  down  My  portion  ;  they  have  turned  My  pleasant 
portion  into  a  desolate  wilderness.  He  (the  foe,  the  in- 
strument of  this  ruin)  hath  made  it  a  desolation;  it 
mourneth  against  Me,  being  desolate;  desolated  is  all  the 
landyfor  there  is  no  man  that  giveth  heed  (vv.  lO,  ii). 
As  in  an  earher  discourse,  ch.  vi.  3,  the  invaders 
are  now  compared  to  hordes  of  nomad  shepherds, 
who  enter  the  land  with  their  flocks  and  herds, 
and  make  havoc  of  the  crops  and  pastures.  From 
time  immemorial  the  wandering  Bedawis  have  been  a 
terror  to  the  settled  peasantry  of  the  East,  whose  way 
of  life  they  despise  as  ignoble  and  unworthy  of  free 
men.  Of  this  traditional  enmity  we  perhaps  hear 
a  far-off  echo  in  the  story  of  Cain  the  tiller  of  the 
ground  and  Abel  the  keeper  of  sheep  ;  and  certainly 
in  the  statement  that  ''  every  shepherd  was  an  abomina- 
tion unto  the  Egyptians  "  (Gen.  xlvi.  34).  The  picture 
of  utter  desolateness,  which  the  prophet  suggests  b}' 
a  fourfold  repetition,  is  probably  sketched  from  a  scene 
which  he  had  himself  witnessed ;  if  it  be  not  rather 
a  representation  of  the  actual  condition  of  the  country 
at  the  time  of  his  writing.  That  the  latter  is  the  case 
might  naturally  be  inferred  from  a  consideration  of  the 
whole  passage ;  and  the  twelfth  verse  seems  to  lend 
much  support  to  this  view :  Over  all  hare  hills  in 
the  wilderness  have  come  ravagers ;  for  lahvah  hath  a 
devouring  sword:  from  land^s  end  to  land's  end  no 
flesh   hath  peace}     The   language  indeed   recalls   that 


'  Such  seems  to  be  the  best  punctuation  of  the  sentence.    It  involves 
the  transler  ol  Athnach  to  n^DX. 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  275 

of  ch.  iv.  10,  II  ;  and  the  entire  description  might  be 
taken  as  an  ideal  picture  of  the  ruin  that  must  ensue 
upon  lahvah's  rejection  of  the  land  and  people,  especially 
if  the  closing  verses  (14-17)  be  considered  as  a  later 
addition  to  the  prophecy,  made  in  the  light  of  accom- 
plished facts.     But,  upon  the  whole,  it  would  seem  to 
be  more  probable  that  the  prophet  is  here  reading  the 
moral  of  present   or  recent  experience.      He    affirms 
(ver.   11)  that  the  affliction  of  the  country  is  really  a 
punishment  for  the  religious  blindness  of  the  nation  : 
there  is  no  man  that  layeth  to  heart  the  Divine  teaching 
of  events  as  interpreted  by  himself  (cf.  ver.  4).     The 
fact  that  we  are  unable,  in  the  scantiness  of  the  re- 
cords of  the  time,  to  specify  the  particular  troubles  to 
which  allusion  is  made,  is  no  great  objection  to  this 
view,  which  is  at   least  effectively  illustrated   by  the 
brief  statement  of  2   Kings  xxiv.   2.      The    reflexion 
appended  in   ver.   13   points    in    the    same    direction  : 
They  have  sown  wheat,  and  have  reaped  thorns;   they 
have  put  themselves  to  pain  (or,   exhausted  themselves) 
without  profit,  (or,   made  themselves  sick  with  unprofit- 
able  toil);    and    they   are    ashamed    of  their^  produce 
(ingatherings),  through  the  heat  of  the  wrath  of  lahvah. 
When  the  enemy  had  ravaged  the  crops,  thorns  would 
naturally  spring  up  on   the  wasted  lands ;  and   "  the 
heat    of    the    wrath    of    lahvah "    appears    to    have 
been  further  manifested  in  a  parching  drought,  which 
ruined  what  the  enemy  had  left   untouched   (ver.  4, 
ch.  xiv.). 

Thus,  then,  Jeremiah  receives  the  answer  to  his 
doubts  in  a  painfully  visible  demonstration  of  what 
the  wrath  of  lahvah  means.      It  means  drought  and 

»  So  the  LXX.  This  agrees  better  with  the  context  than  "  So  be  ye 
ashamed  of  >'o«r  fruits." 


276  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

famine ;  it  means  the  exposure  of  the  country,  naked 
and  defenceless,  to  the  will  of  rapacious  and  vindictive 
enemies.  For  lahvah's  wrongs  are  far  deeper  and 
more  bitter  than  the  prophet's.  The  misdeeds  of 
individuals  are  lighter  in  the  balance  than  the  sins  of 
a  nation ;  the  treachery  of  a  few  persons  on  a  particular 
occasion  is  as  nothing  beside  the  faithlessness  of  many 
generations.  The  partial  evils,  therefore,  under  which 
the  country  groans,  can  only  be  taken  as  indications 
of  a  far  more  complete  and  terrible  destruction  reserved 
for  final  impenitence.  The  perception  of  this  truth, 
we  may  suppose,  sufficed  for  the  time  to  silence  the 
prophet's  complaints ;  and  in  the  revulsion  of  feeling 
inspired  by  the  awful  vision  of  the  unimpeded 
outbreak  of  Divine  wrath,  he  utters  an  oracle  con- 
cerning his  country's  destroyers,  in  which  retributive 
justice  is  tempered  by  compassion  and  mercy.  Thus 
hath  Jehovah  said,  Upon  all  Mine  evil  neighbours^ 
who  touch  the  heritage  which  I  caused  My  people  Israel 
to  inherit:  Lo  I  am  about  to  uproot  (i.  lo)  them  from 
off  their  own  land,  and  the  house  of  Judah  will  I  uproot 
from  their  midst.  And  after  I  have  uprooted  them,  I 
will  have  compassion  on  them  again,  and  will  restore 
them  each  to  their  own  heritage  and  their  own  land. 
And  if  they  truly  learn  the  ways  of  My  people,  to  swear 
by  My  name,  *  as  lahvah  liveth  ! '  even  as  they  taught  My 
people  to  swear  by  the  Baal ;  they  shall  be  rebuilt  in  the 
midst  of  My  people.  And  if  they  will  not  hear,  I  will 
uproot  that  nation,  utterly  and  fatally ;  it  is  an  oracle  of 
lahvah  (14-17).  The  preceding  section  (vv.  7-14),  as 
we  have  seen,  rapidly  yet  vividly  sketches  the  calami- 
ties which  have  ensued  and  must  further  ensue  upon 
the  Divine  desertion  of  the  country.  lahvah  has  for- 
saken the  land,  left  her  naked  to  her  enemies,  for  her 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  277 

causeless,  capricious,  thankless  revolt  against  her  Divine 
Lord.  In  this  forlorn,  defenceless  condition,  all  manner 
of  evils  befall  her;  the  vineyards  and  cornfields  are 
ravaged,  the  goodly  land  is  desolated,  by  hordes  of 
savage  freebooters  pouring  in  from  the  eastern  deserts. 
These  invaders  are  called  lahvah's  "  evil  neighbours  ; " 
an  expression  which  implies,  not  individuals  banded 
together  for  purposes  of  brigandage,  but  hostile  nations.^ 
Upon  these  nations  also  will  the  justice  of  God  be 
vindicated  ;  for  that  justice  is  universal  in  its  operation, 
and  cannot  therefore  be  restricted  to  Israel.  Judgment 
must  ''  begin  at  the  house  of  God ;  "  but  it  will  not  end 
there.  The  "  evil  neighbours,"  the  surrounding  heathen 
kingdoms,  have  been  lahvah's  instruments  for  the 
chastisement  of  His  rebellious  people;  but  they  are 
not  on  that  account  exempted  from  recompense.  They 
too  must  reap  what  they  have  sown.  They  have  in- 
sulted lahvah,  by  violating  His  territory;  they  have 
indulged  their  malice  and  treachery  and  rapacity,  in 
utter  disregard  of  the  rights  of  neighbours,  and  the 
moral  claims  of  kindred  peoples.  As  they  have  done, 
so  shall  it  be  done  unto  them  :  Apdaavri  iraOelv.  They 
have  laid  hands  on  the  possessions  of  their  neighbour, 
and  their  own  shall  be  taken  from  them ;  /  am  about 
to  uproot  them  from  off  their  own  land  (cf.  Amos  i.  3- 
ii.  3).  And  not  only  so,  but  the  house  of  Judah  will 
I  pluck  up  from  their  midst.  The  Lord's  people  shall 
be  no  more  exposed  to  their  unneighbourly  ill-will ;  the 
butt  of  their  ridicule,  the  victim  of  their  malice,  will  be 
removed  to  a  foreign  soil  as  well  as  they;  but  oppressed 
and  oppressors  will  no  longer  be  together ;  their  new 


*  As  Hitzig  has  observed,  only  a  people,  or  a  king,  or  a  national 
god,  could  be  spoken  of  as  a  "neighbour"  to  the  God  of  Israel. 


278  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

settlements  will  lie  far  apart;  under  the  altered  state  of 
things,  under  the  shadow  of  the  great  conqueror  of  the 
future,  there  will  be  no  opportunity  for  the  old  injurious 
dealings.  All  alike,  Judah  and  the  enemies  of  Judah, 
will  be  subject  to  the  will  of  the  foreign  lord.  But  that 
is  not  the  end.  The  Judge  of  all  the  earth  is  merciful 
as  well  as  just.  He  is  loth  to  blot  whole  peoples  out 
of  existence,  even  though  they  have  merited  destruction 
by  grievous  and  prolonged  transgression  of  His  laws. 
Therefore  banishment  will  be  followed  by  restoration, 
not  in  the  case  of  Judah  only,  but  of  all  the  expa- 
triated peoples.  After  enduring  the  Divine  probation 
of  adversity,  they  will  be  brought  again,  by  the 
Divine  compassion,  "  each  to  their  own  heritage  and 
their  own  land."  And  then,  if  they  will  profit  by  the 
teaching  of  lahvah's  prophets,  and  "  learn  the  ways," 
that  is,  the  religion  of  His  people,  making  their  supreme 
appeal  to  lahvah,  as  the  fountain  of  all  truth  and  the 
sovran  vindicator  of  right  and  justice,  as  hitherto  they 
have  appealed  to  the  Baal,  and  misled  Israel  into  the 
same  profane  and  futile  course;  then  "they  shall  be 
built  up,"  or  rebuilt,  or  brought  to  great  and  ever- 
growing prosperity,  "in  the  midst  of  My  people." 
Such  is  to  be  the  blessing  of  the  Gentiles  ;  they  shall 
share  in  the  glorious  future  that  awaits  repentant  Israel. 
The  present  condition  of  things  is  to  be  completely 
reversed:  now  Judah  sojourns  in  their  midst;  then 
they  will  be  surrounded  on  every  side  by  the  emanci- 
pated and  triumphant  people  of  God  :  now  they  beset 
Judah  with  jealousies,  suspicions,  enmities  ;  then  Judah 
will  embrace  them  all  with  the  arms  of  an  unselfish 
and  protecting  love.  A  last  word  of  warning  is  added. 
The  doom  of  the  nation  that  will  not  accept  the  Divine 
teaching  will  he  utter  and  absolute  extermination. 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BROKEN  COVENANT.  279 

The  forecast  is  plainly  of  a  Messianic  nature;  it 
recognises  in  lahvah  the  Saviour,  not  of  a  nation,  but 
of  the  world.  It  perceives  that  the  disunion  and 
mutual  hatred  of  peoples,  as  of  individuals,  is  a  breach 
of  Divine  law  ;  and  it  proclaims  a  general  return  to 
God,  and  submission  to  His  guidance  in  all  political 
as  well  as  private  affairs,  as  the  sole  cure  for  the 
numberless  evils  that  flow  from  that  hatred  and  dis- 
union. It  is  only  when  men  have  learnt  that  God  is 
their  common  Father  and  Lord,  that  they  come  to  see 
with  the  clearness  and  force  of  practical  conviction  that 
they  themselves  are  all  members  of  one  family,  bound 
as  such  to  mutual  offices  of  kindness  and  charity ;  it 
is  only  when  there  is  a  conscious  identity  of  interest 
with  all  our  fellows,  based  upon  the  recognition  that 
all  alike  are  children  of  God  and  heirs  of  eternal  life, 
that  true  freedom  and  universal  brotherhood  become 
possible  for  man. 


VIII. 

THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE, 
Jeremiah  xiii. 

THIS  discourse  is  a  sort  of  appendix  to  the  pre- 
ceding ;  as  is  indicated  by  its  abrupt  and  brief 
beginning  with  the  words  "  Thus  said  lahvah  unto 
me,"  without  the  addition  of  any  mark  of  time,  or 
other  determining  circumstance.  It  predicts  captivity, 
in  retribution  for  the  pride  and  ingratitude  of  the 
people ;  and  thus  suitably  follows  the  closing  section 
of  the  last  address,  which  announces  the  coming 
deportation  of  Judah  and  her  evil  neighbours.  The 
recurrence  here  (ver.  9)  of  the  peculiar  term  rendered 
^'swelling"  or  *' pride"  in  our  English  versions  (ch. 
xii.  5),  points  to  the  same  conclusion.  We  may  sub- 
divide it  thus  ;  It  presents  us  with  (i)  a  symbolical 
action,  or  acted  parable,  with  its  moral  and  application 
(w.  l-li);  (ii)  a  parabolic  saying  and  its  interpre- 
tation, which  leads  up  to  a  pathetic  appeal  for  penitence 
(vy.  12-17);  (iii)  a  message  to  the  sovereigns  (vv. 
18,  19);  and  (iv)  a  closing  apostrophe  to  Jerusalem — 
the  gay  and  guilty  capital,  so  soon  to  be  made  desolate 
for  her  abounding  sins  (vv.  20-27). 

In  the  first  of  these  four  sections,  we  are  told  how 
the  prophet  was  bidden  of  God  to  buy  a  linen  girdle, 
and  after  wearing  it  for  a  time,  to  bury  it  in  a  cleft  of 


xiiL]  THE  FALL  OF  PRIDE.  281 

the  rock  at  a  place  whose  very  name  might  be  taken 
to  symbolize  the  doom  awaiting  his  people.  A  long 
while  afterwards  he  was  ordered  to  go  and  dig  it  up 
again,  and  found  it  altogether  spoiled  and  useless. 
The  significance  of  these  proceedings  is  clearly  enough 
explained.  The  relation  between  Israel  and  the  God 
of  Israel  had  been  of  the  closest  kind.  lahvah  had 
chosen  this  people,  and  bound  it  to  Himself  by  a 
covenant,  as  a  man  might  bind  a  girdle  about  his  body ; 
and  as  the  girdle  is  an  ornament  of  dress,  so  had  the 
Lord  intended  Israel  to  display  His  glory  among  men 
(ver.  11).  But  now  the  girdle  is  rotten;  and  like  that 
rotten  girdle  will  He  cause  the  pride  of  Judah  to  rot 
and  perish  (vv.  9,  lo). 

It  is  natural  to  ask,  whether  Jeremiah  really  did  as 
he  relates  ;  or  whether  the  narrative  about  the  girdle 
be  simply  a  literary  device  intended  to  carry  a  lesson 
home  to  the  dullest  apprehension.  If  the  prophet's 
activity  had  been  confined  to  the  pen  ;  if  he  had  not 
been  wont  to  labour  by  word  and  deed  for  the  attain- 
ment of  his  purposes ;  the  latter  alternative  might  be 
accepted.  For  mere  readers,  a  parabolic  narrative 
might  suffice  to  enforce  his  meaning.  But  Jeremiah, 
who  was  all  his  life  a  man  of  action,  probably  did  the 
thing  he  professes  to  have  done,  not  in  thought  nor  in 
word  only,  but  in  deed  and  to  the  knowledge  of  certain 
competent  witnesses.  There  was  nothing  novel  in  this 
method  of  attracting  attention,  and  giving  greater  force 
and  impressiveness  to  his  prediction.  The  older 
prophets  had  often  done  the  same  kind  of  things,  on 
the  principle  that  deeds  may  be  more  effective  than 
Vv^ords.  What  could  have  conveyed  a  more  vivid  sense 
of  the  Divine  intention,  than  the  simple  act  of  Ahijah 
ihe  Shilonite,  when  he  suddenly  caught  away  the  new 


282  THE  PROPHECIES   OF  JEREMIAH. 

mantle  of  Solomon*s  officer,  and  rent  it  into  twelve 
pieces,  and  said  to  the  astonished  courtier,  "  Take  thee 
ten  pieces !  for  thus  said  lahvah,  the  God  of  Israel, 
Behold  I  am  about  to  rend  the  kingdom  out  of  the 
hand  of  Solomon,  and  will  give  the  ten  tribes  to  thee  "  ? 
(i  Kings  xi.  29  sqq^  In  Hke  manner,  when  Ahab 
and  Jehoshaphat,  dressed  in  their  robes  of  state,  sat 
enthroned  in  the  gateway  of  Samaria,  and  '^  all  the 
prophets  were  prophesying  before  them"  about  the 
issue  of  their  joint  expedition  to  Ramoth-gilead, 
Zedekiah,  the  son  of  a  Canaanitess — as  the  writer  is 
careful  to  add  of  this  false  prophet — "  made  him  horns 
of  iron  and  said.  Thus  said  lahvah.  With  these  shalt 
thou  butt  the  Arameans,  until  thou  make  an  end  of 
them"  (i  Kings  xxii.  11).  Isaiah,  Hosea,  and  Ezekiel, 
record  similar  actions  of  symbolical  import.  Isaiah  for 
a  time  walked  half-clad  and  barefoot,  as  a  sign  that 
the  Egyptians  and  Ethiopians,  upon  whom  Judah  was 
inclined  to  lean,  would  be  led  away  captive,  in  this 
comfortless  guise,  by  the  king  of  Assyria  (Isa.  xx.). 
Such  actions  may  be  regarded  as  a  further  develop- 
ment of  those  significant  gestures,  with  which  men  in 
what  is  called  a  state  of  nature  are  wont  to  give 
emphasis  and  precision  to  their  spoken  ideas.  They 
may  also  be  compared  with  the  symboHsm  of  ancient 
law.  '*  An  ancient  conveyance,"  we  are  told,  ^'  was  not 
written  but  acted.  Gestures  and  words  took  the  place 
of  written  technical  phraseology,  and  any  formula 
mispronounced,  or  symbolical  act  omitted,  would  have 
vitiated  the  proceeding  as  fatally  as  a  material  mistake 
in  stating  the  uses  or  setting  out  the  remainders  would, 
two  hundred  years  ago,  have  vitiated  an  English  deed." 
(Maine,  Ancient  Law,  p.  2^6?)  Actions  of  a  purely 
symbolical  nature  surprise  us,  when  we  first  encounter 


xiii.]  THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE.  283 

them  in  Religion  or  Law,  but  that  is  only  because  they 
are  survivals.  In  the  ages  when  they  originated,  they 
were  familiar  occurrences  in  all  transactions  between 
man  and  man.  And  this  general  consideration  tends 
to  prove  that  those  expositors  are  wrong  who  main- 
tain that  the  prophets  did  not  really  perform  the 
symboHcal  actions  of  which  they  speak.  Just  as  it  is 
argued  that  the  visions  which  they  describe,  are  merely 
a  literary  device ;  so  the  reality  of  these  symbolical 
actions  has  needlessly  enough  been  called  in  question. 
The  learned  Jews  Abenezra  and  Maimonides  in  the 
twelfth  century,  and  David  Kimchi  in  the  thirteenth, 
were  the  first  to  affirm  this  opinion.  Maimonides  held 
that  all  such  actions  passed  in  vision  before  the 
prophets ;  a  view  which  has  found  a  modern  advocate 
in  Hengstenberg :  and  Staudlin,  in  the  last  century, 
affirmed  that  they  had  neither  an  objective  nor  a  sub- 
jective reality,  but  were  simply  a  "  literary  device." 
This,  however,  is  only  true,  if  true  at  all,  of  the  declin- 
ing period  of  prophecy,  as  in  the  case  of  the  visions. 
In  the  earlier  period,  while  the  prophets  were  still 
accustomed  to  an  oral  delivery  of  their  discourses,  we 
may  be  quite  sure  that  they  suited  the  action  to  the 
word  in  the  way  that  they  have  themselves  recorded  ; 
in  order  to  stir  the  popular  imagination,  and  to  create  a 
more  vivid  and  lasting  impression.  The  narratives  of 
the  historical  books  leave  no  doubt  about  the  matter. 
But  in  later  times,  when  spoken  addresses  had  for 
the  most  part  become  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  when 
prophets  published  their  convictions  in  manuscript,  it 
is  possible  that  they  were  content  with  the  description 
of  symbolical  doings,  as  a  sort  of  parable,  without  any 
actual  performance  of  them.  Jeremiah's  hiding  his 
girdle  in  a  cleft  of  the  rock  at  "  Euphrates  "  has  been 


284  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

regarded  by  some  writers  as  an  instance  of  such  purely 
ideal  symbolism.  And  certainly  it  is  difficult  to  suppose 
that  the  prophet  made  the  long  and  arduous  journey 
from  Jerusalem  to  the  Great  River  for  such  a  purpose. 
It  is,  however,  a  highly  probable  conjecture  that  the 
place  whither  he  was  directed  to  repair  was  much 
nearer  home  ;  the  addition  of  a  single  letter  to  the  name 
rendered  ^'  Euphrates"  gives  the  far  preferable  reading 
"  Ephrath,"  that  is  to  say,  Bethlehem  in  Judah  (Gen. 
xlviii.  7).  Jeremiah  may  very  well  have  buried  his 
girdle  at  Bethlehem,  a  place  only  five  miles  or  so  to 
the  south  of  Jerusalem  ;  a  place,  moreover,  where  he 
would  have  no  trouble  in  finding  a  "  cleft  of  the  rock," 
which  would  hardly  be  the  case  upon  the  alluvial  banks 
of  the  Euphrates.  If  not  accidental,  the  difference  may 
be  due  to  the  intentional  employment  of  an  unusual 
form  of  the  name,  by  way  of  hinting  at  the  source 
whence  the  ruin  of  Judah  was  to  flow.  The  enemy 
'*  from  the  north "  (ver.  20)  is  of  course  the  Chal- 
deans. 

The  mention  of  the  queen-mother  (ver.  18)  along 
with  the  king  appears  to  point  unmistakably  to  the 
reign  of  Jehoiachin  or  Jechoniah.  The  allusion  is 
compared  with  the  threat  of  ch.  xxii.  26 :  ^'  I  will  cast 
thee  out,  and  thy  mother  that  bare  thee  into  another 
country."  Like  Josiah,  this  king  was  but  eight  years 
old  when  he  began  to  reign  (2  Chron.  xxxvi.  9,  after 
which  2  Kings  xxiv.  8  must  be  corrected) ;  and  he  had 
enjoyed  the  name  of  king  only  for  the  brief  period  of 
three  months,  when  the  thunderbolt  fell,  and  Nebuchad- 
rezzar began  his  first  siege  of  Jerusalem.  The  boy- 
king  can  hardly  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  issue  of 
affairs,  when  "  he  and  his  mother  and  his  servants  and 
his  princes  and  his  eunuchs  "  surrendered  the  city,  and 


.]  THE   FALL   OF  PRIDE.  285 


were  deported  to  Babylon,  with  ten  thousand  of  the 
principal  inhabitants  (2  Kingsxxiv.  12  sqq.).  The  date 
of  our  discourse  will  thus  be  the  beginning  of  the  year 
B.C.  599,  which  was  the  eighth  year  of  Nebuchadrezzar 
(2  Kings  xxiv.  12). 

It   is   asserted,   indeed,   that   the   difficult   verse  21 
refers  to  the  revolt  from  Babylon  as  an  accomplished 
fact;   but  this  is   by   no  means   clear  from   the  verse 
itself.      What  wilt  thou  say^  demands  the  prophet,  when 
He   shall   appoint    over    thee — albeit^    thou    thyself  hast 
instructed  them  against  thyself  j— lovers  to  be  thy  head  ? 
The  term   "lovers"  or  'Memans"  applies  best  to  the 
foreign    idols,    who    will    one    day    repay    the    foolish 
attachment  of  lahvah's  people  by  enslaving  it  (cf.  ch. 
iii.  4,  where  lahvah  himself  is  called  the  ''  lover "  of 
Judah's  youthful  days);    and  this    question   might  as 
well  have   been  asked  in  the  days  of  Josiah,  as  at  any 
later  period.     At  various  times  in  the  past  Israel  and 
Judah  had  courted  the  favour  of  foreign  deities.     Ahaz 
had    introduced    Aramean    and    Assyrian    novelties; 
Manasseh  and  Amon  had  revived  and  aggravated  his 
apostasy.      Even  Hezekiah  had  had  friendly  dealings 
with  Babylon,  and  we  must  remember  that  in   those 
times  friendly  intercourse  with  a  foreign  people  implied 
some  recognition  of  their  gods,  which  is  probably  the 
true  account  of  Solomon's  chapels  for  Tyrian  and  other 
deities. 

The  queen  of  ver.  18  might  conceivably  be  Jedidah, 
the  mother  of  Josiah,  for  that  king  was  only  eight  at 
his  accession,  and  only  thirty-nine  at  his  death  (2  Kings 
xxii.  i).  And  the  message  to  the  sovereigns  (ver.  18) 
is  not  couched  in  terms  of  disrespect  nor  of  reproach  : 
it  simply  declares  the  imminence  of  overwhelming 
disaster,  and  bids  them  lay  aside  their  royal  pomp,  and 


286  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

behave  as  mourners  for  the  coming  woe.  Such  words 
might  perhaps  have  been  addressed  to  Josiah  and  his 
mother,  by  way  of  deepening  the  impression  produced 
by  the  Book  of  the  Law,  and  the  rumoured  invasion  of 
the  Scythians.  But  the  threat  against  "  the  kings  that 
sit  on  David's  throne"  (ver.  13)  is  hardly  suitable  on 
this  supposition;  and  the  ruthless  tone  of  this  part 
of  the  address — /  will  dash  them  in  pieces^  one  against 
another,  both  the  fathers  and  the  sons  together:  I  will 
not  pity,  nor  spare,  nor  relent  from  destroying  them — 
considered  along  with  the  emphatic  prediction  of  an 
utter  and  entire  captivity  (ver.  19),  seems  to  indicate  a 
later  period  of  the  prophet's  ministry,  when  the  obdu- 
racy of  the  people  had  revealed  more  fully  the  hope- 
lessness of  his  enterprise  for  their  salvation.  The 
mention  of  the  enemy  "  from  the  north  "  will  then  be  a 
reference  to  present  circumstances  of  peril,  as  trium- 
phantly vindicating  the  prophet's  former  menaces  of 
destruction  from  that  quarter.  The  carnage  of  conquest 
and  the  certainty  of  exile  are  here  threatened  in  the 
plainest  and  most  direct  style  ;  but  nothing  is  said  by 
way  of  heightening  the  popular  terror  of  the  coming 
destroyer.  The  prophet  seems  to  take  it  for  granted 
that  the  nature  of  the  evil  which  hangs  over  their 
heads,  is  well  known  to  the  people,  and  does  not  need 
to  be  dwelt  upon  or  amplified  with  the  lyric  fervour  of 
former  utterances  (see  ch.  iv.,  v.  15  sqq.,  vi.  22  sqq?j. 
This  appears  quite  natural,  if  we  suppose  that  the 
first  invasion  of  the  Chaldeans  was  now  a  thing  of  the 
past ;  and  that  the  nation  was  awaiting  in  trembling 
uncertainty  the  consequences  of  Jehoiakim's  breach  of 
faith  with  his  Babylonian  suzerain  (2  Kings  xxiv.  i.  10). 
The  prophecy  may  therefore  be  assigned  with  some 
confidence  to  the  short  reign  of  Jehoiachin,  to  which 


xiii.]  THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE.  2S7 

perhaps  the  short  section,  ch.  x.  17-25,  also  belongs; 
a  date  which  harmonizes  better  than  any  other  with 
the  play  on  the  name  Euphrates  in  the  opening 
of  the  chapter.  It  agrees,  too,  with  the  emphatic 
lahvah  hath  spoken!  (ver.  15),  which  seems  to  be 
more  than  a  mere  assertion  of  the  speaker's  vera- 
city, and  to  point  rather  to  the  fact  that  the  course 
of  events  had  reached  a  crisis;  that  something  had 
occurred  in  the  political  world,  which  suggested  imminent 
danger;  that  a  black  cloud  was  looming  up  on  the 
national  horizon,  and  signalling  unmistakably  to  the 
prophet's  eye  the  intention  of  lahvah.  What  other 
view  so  well  explains  the  solemn  tone  of  warning,  the 
vivid  apprehension  of  danger,  the  beseeching  tenderness, 
that  give  so  peculiar  a  stamp  to  the  three  verses  in 
which  the  address  passes  from  narrative  and  parable,  to 
direct  appeal?  Hear  ye  and  give  hear:  be  not  proud: 
for  lahvah  hath  spoken  !  Give  glory  to  lahvah  your 
God — the  glory  of  confession,  of  avowing  your  own 
guilt  and  His  perfect  righteousness  (Josh.  vii.  19 ; 
St.  John  ix.  24)  ;  of  recognising  the  due  reward  of 
your  deeds  in  the  destruction  that  threatens  you ;  the 
glory  involved  in  the  cry,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a 
sinner  ! " — Give  glory  to  lahvah  your  God,  before  the 
darkness  fall,  and  before  your  feet  stumble  upon  the  twi- 
light mountains ;  and  ye  wait  for  dazvn,  and  He  make 
it  deepest  gloom,  He  turn  it  to  utter  darkness.  The  day 
was  declining ;  the  evening  shadows  were  descending 
and  deepening ;  soon  the  hapless  people  would  be 
wandering  bewildered  in  the  twilight,  and  lost  in  the 
darkness,  unless,  ere  it  had  become  too  late,  they  would 
yield  their  pride,  and  throw  themselves  upon  the  pity  of 
Him  who  "maketh  the  seven  stars  and  Orion,  and  turneth 
the  deepest  gloom  into  the  morning"  (Amos  v.  8). 


288  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

The  verbal  allusiveness  of  the  openmg  section  does 
not,  according  to  Oriental  taste,  diminish  the  solemnity 
of  the  speaker ;  on  the  contrary,  it  tends  to  deepen  the 
impression  produced  by  his  words.  And  perhaps  there 
is  a  psychological  reason  for  the  fact,  beyond  the 
peculiar  partiality  of  Oriental  peoples  for  such  displays 
of  ingenuity.  It  is,  at  all  events,  remarkable  that  the 
greatest  of  all  masters  of  human  feehng  has  not  hesi- 
tated to  make  a  dying  prince  express  his  bitter  and 
desponding  thoughts  in  what  may  seem  an  artificial 
toying  and  trifling  with  the  suggestiveness  of  his  own 
famihar  name ;  and  when  the  king  asks  :  ''  Can  sick 
men  play  so  nicely  with  their  names  ?  "  the  answer  is  : 
"  No,  misery  makes  sport  to  mock  itself."  (Rich.  II., 
Act  2,  Sc.  i.,  72  sqq?)  The  Greek  tragedian,  too,  in 
the  earnestness  of  bitter  sport,  can  find  a  prophecy  in 
a  name.  ''  Who  was  for  naming  her  thus,  with  truth 
so  entire  ?  (Was  it  One  whom  we  see  not,  wielding 
tongue  happily  with  full  foresight  of  what  was  to  be  ?) 
the  Bride  of  Battles,  fiercely  contested  Helen  :  seeing 
that,  in  full  accord  with  her  nam^e,  haler  of  ships,  haler 
of  men,  haler  of  cities,  forth  of  the  soft  and  precious 
tapestries  away  she  sailed,  under  the  gale  of  the  giant 
West"  (^sch.,  Ag.j  681  sqq?).  And  so,  to  Jeremiah's 
ear,  Ephrath  is  prophetic  of  Euphrates,  upon  whose 
distant  banks  the  glory  of  his  people  is  to  languish 
and  decay.  "  I  to  Ephrath,  and  you  to  Phrath  ! "  is  his 
melancholy  cry.  Their  doom  is  as  certain  as  if  it  were 
the  mere  fulfilment  of  an  old-world  prophecy,  crystal- 
lized long  ages  ago  in  a  famihar  name;  a  word  of 
destiny  fixed  in  this  strange  form,  and  bearing  its 
solemn  witness  from  the  outset  of  their  history  until 
now  concerning  the  inevitable  goal. 

There  is  nothing  so  very  surprising,  as  Ewald  seems 


xiii.]  THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE.  289 

to  have  thought,  in  the  suggestion  that  the  Perath  of 
the  Hebrew  text  may  be  the  same  as  Ephrath.  But 
perhaps  the  valley  and  spring  now  called  Furah  (or 
Ftirdt)  which  lies  at  about  the  same  distance  N.E.  of 
Jerusalem,  is  the  place  intended  by  the  prophet.  The 
name,  which  means  fresh  or  sweet  water  is  identical 
with  the  Arabic  name  of  the  Euphrates  {Furat^  oli)> 
which  again  is  philologically  identical  with  the  Hebrew 
Perath.  It  is  obvious  that  this  place  would  suit  the 
requirements  of  the  text  quite  as  well  as  the  other, 
while  the  coincidence  of  name  enables  us  to  dispense 
with  the  supposition  of  an  unusual  form  or  even  a 
corruption  of  the  original ;  but  Furat  or  Forah  is  hot 
mentioned  elsewhere  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  old 
versions  send  the  prophet  to  the  river  Euphrates,  which 
Jeremiah  calls  simply  "  The  River  "  in  one  place  (ii.  18), 
and  "  The  river  of  Perath  "  in  three  others  (xlvi.  2,  6,  lo)  ; 
while  the  rare  "  Perath,"  without  any  addition,  is  only 
found  in  the  second  account  of  the  Creation  (Gen.  ii.  14), 
in  2  Chron.  xxxv.  20,  and  in  a  passage  of  this  book 
which  does  not  belong,  nor  profess  to  belong,  to 
Jeremiah  (Ii.  63).  We  may,  therefore,  conclude  that 
'^  Perath  "  in  the  present  passage  means  not  the  great 
river  of  that  name,  but  a  place  near  Jerusalem,  although 
that  place  was  probably  chosen  with  the  intention,  as 
above  explained,  of  alluding  to  the  Euphrates. 

I  cannot  assent  to  the  opinion  which  regards  this 
narrative  of  the  spoiled  girdle  as  founded  upon  some 
accidental  experience  of  the  prophet's  life,  in  which  he 
afterwards  recognised  a  Divine  lesson.  The  precision 
of  statement,  and  the  nice  adaptation  of  the  details  of 
the  story  to  the  moral  which  the  prophet  wished  to 
convey,  rather  indicate  a  symbolical  course  of  action, 
or  what  may  be  called  an  acted  parable.     The  whole 

19 


290  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

proceeding  appears  to  have  been  carefully  thought  out 
beforehand.  The  intimate  connexion  between  lahvah 
and  Israel  is  well  symbolized  by  a  girdle — that  part  of 
an  Eastern  dress  which  ''  cleaves  to  the  loins  of  a  man," 
that  is,  fits  closest  to  the  body,  and  is  most  securely 
attached  thereto.  And  if  the  nations  be  represented 
by  the  rest  of  the  apparel,  as  the  girdle  secures  and 
keeps  that  in  its  place,  we  may  see  an  implication  that 
Israel  was  intended  to  be  the  chain  that  bound  mankind 
to  God.  The  girdle  was  of  linen^  the  material  of  the 
priestly  dress,  not  only  because  Jeremiah  was  a  priest, 
but  because  Israel  was  called  to  be  "  a  kingdom  of 
priests,"  or  the  Priest  among  nations  (Ex.  xix.  6). 
The  significance  of  the  command  to  wear  the  girdle, 
but  not  to  put  it  into  water,  seems  to  be  clear  enough. 
The  unwashed  garment  which  the  prophet  continues 
to  wear  for  a  time  represents  the  foulness  of  Israel ; 
just  as  the  order  to  bury  it  at  Perath  indicates  what 
lahvah  is  about  to  do  with  His  polluted  people. 

The  exposition  begins  with  the  words.  Thus  will 
I  mar  the  great  pride  of  Judah  and  of  Jerusalem  I 
The  spiritual  uncleanness  of  the  nation  consisted  in 
the  proud  selfwill  which  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
warnings  of  lahvah's  prophets,  and  obstinately  per- 
sisted in  idolatry  (ver.  lo).  It  continues  :  For  as  the 
girdle  cleaveth  to  the  loins  of  a  man,  so  made  I  the 
whole  house  of  Israel  and  the  whole  house  of  Judah  to 
cleave  unto  Me,  saith  lahvah;  that  they  might  become 
to  Me  for  a  people,  and  for  a  name,  and  for  a  praise, 
and  for  an  ornament  (Ex.  xxviii.  2).  Then  their 
becoming  morally  unclean,  through  the  defilements  of 
sin,  is  briefly  implied  in  the  words,  And  they  obeyed 
not  (ver.  1 1). 

It  is  not  the  pride  of  the  tyrant  king  Jehoiakim  that 


xiii.l  THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE,  291 

is  here  threatened  with  destruction.  It  is  the  national 
pride  which  had  all  along  evinced  itself  in  rebellion 
against  its  heavenly  King — the  great  pride  of  Judah  ana 
Jerusalem;  and  this  pride,  inasmuch  as  it  ''trusted  in 
man  and  made  flesh  its  arm"  (xvii.  5),  and  boasted 
in  a  carnal  wisdom,  and  material  strength  and  riches 
(ix.  23,  xxi.  13),  was  to  be  brought  low  by  the  com- 
plete extinction  of  the  national  autonomy,  and  the 
reduction  of  a  high-spirited  and  haughty  race  to  the 
status  of  humble  dependents  upon  a  heathen  power. 

2.  A  parabolic  saying  follows,  with  its  interpreta- 
tion. And  say  thou  unto  them  this  word:  Thus  said 
lahvahj  the  God  of  Israel :  Every  jar  is  wont  to  be 
filled  (or  shall  be  filled)  with  wine.  And  if  they  say 
unto  thee.  Are  we  really  not  aware  that  every  jar  is 
wont  to  be  filled  with  wine  ?  say  thou  unto  them,  Thus 
said  lahvahf  Lo,  I  am  about  to  fill  all  the  inhabitants 
of  this  land,  and  the  kings  that  sit  for  David  upon  his 
throne,  and  the  priests  and  the  prophets,  and  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  with  drunkenness;  and  I  wiL 
dash  them  in  pieces  against  one  another,  and  the  fathers 
and  the  sons  together,  saith  lahvah :  I  will  not  forbear 
nor  spare  nor  pity,  so  as  not  to  mar  them  (cf.  vv.  7,  9). 

The  individual  members  of  the  nation,  of  all  ranks 
and  classes,  are  compared  to  earthenware  jars,  not 
"skins,"  as  the  LXX.  gives  it,  for  they  are  to  be  dashed 
in  pieces,  "like  a  potter's  vessel  "(Ps.  ii.  9;  cf.  ver.  14).^ 
Regarding  them  all  as  ripe  for  destruction,  Jeremiah 
exclaims,  "  Every  jar  is  filled  with  wine,"  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  things  ;  that  is  its  destiny.  His  hearers 
answer  with  the  mocking  question,  "  Do  you  suppose 
that  we  don't  know  that  ?  "     They  would,  of  course, 

■  Also  xlviii.  12 ;  Lam.  iv.  2  ;  Isa.  xxx.  14. 


292  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

be  aware  that  a  prophet's  figure,  however  homely, 
covered  an  inner  meaning  of  serious  import ;  but  deri- 
sion was  their  favourite  retort  against  unpopular  truths 
(xvii.  15,  XX,  7,  8).  They  would  take  it  for  granted 
that  the  thing  suggested  was  unfavourable,  from  their 
past  experience  of  Jeremiah.  Their  ill-timed  banter  is 
met  by  the  instant  application  of  the  figure.  They,  and 
the  kings  then  sitting  on  David's  throne,  i.e.j  the  young 
Jehoiachin  and  the  queen-mother  Nehushta  (who  pro- 
bably had  all  the  authority  if  not  the  title  of  a  regent), 
and  the  priests  and  prophets  who  fatally  misled  them 
by  false  teachings  and  false  counsels,  are  the  wine-jars 
intended,  and  the  wine  that  is  to  fill  them  is  the  wine 
of  the  wrath  of  God  (Ps.  Ixxv.  8  ;  Jer.  xxv.  15  ;  cf.  11.  7; 
Rev.  xvi.  19;  Isa.  xix.  14,  15).  The  effect  is  intoxica- 
tion— a  fatal  bewilderment,  a  helpless  lack  of  decision, 
an  utter  confusion  and  stupefaction  of  the  faculties  of 
wisdom  and  foresight,  in  the  very  moment  of  supreme 
peril  (cf  Isa.  xxviii.  7 ;  Ps.  Ix.  5).  Like  drunkards, 
they  will  reel  against  and  overthrow  each  other.  The 
strong  term  /  will  dash  them  in  pieces  is  used,  to  indicate 
the  deadly  nature  of  their  fall,  and  because  the  prophet 
has  still  in  his  mind  the  figure  of  the  wine-jars,  which 
were  probably  amphorae,  pointed  at  the  end,  like  those 
depicted  in  Egyptian  mural  paintings,  so  that  they 
could  not  stand  upright  without  support.  By  their  fall 
they  are  to  be  utterly  *^  marred  "  (the  term  used  of  the 
girdle,  ver.  9). 

But  even  yet  one  way  of  escape  lies  open.  It  is  to 
sacrifice  their  pride,  and  yield  to  the  will  of  lahvah. 
Hem'  ye,  and  give  ear,  be  not  haughty!  for  lahvah 
hath  spoken :  give  ye  to  lahvah  your  God  the  glory, 
before  it  grow  dark  (or  He  cause  dai'kness),  and  be- 
fore your  feet  stumble  upon  mountains  of  twilight;  and 


xiii.]  THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE.  293 

ye  wait  for  the  dawUy  and  He  make  it  gloom,  turning 
it  to  cloudiness  /  (Isa.  v.  30,  viii.  20,  22  ;  Amos  viii.  9). 
It  is  very  remarkable,  that  even  now,  when  the 
Chaldeans  are  actually  in  the  country,  and  blockad- 
ing the  strong  places  of  southern  Judah  (ver.  19), 
which  was  the  usual  preliminary  to  an  advance  upon 
Jerusalem  itself  (2  Chron.  xii.  4,  xxxii.  9 ;  Isa.  xxxvi. 
I,  2),  Jeremiah  should  still  speak  thus ;  assuring  his 
fellow- citizens  that  confession  and  self-humiliation 
before  their  offended  God  might  yet  deliver  them  from 
the  bitterest  consequences  of  past  misdoing.  lahvah 
had  indeed  spoken  audibly  enough,  as  it  seemed  to  the 
prophet,  in  the  calamities  that  had  already  befallen  the 
country ;  these  were  an  indication  of  more  and  worse 
to  follow,  unless  they  should  prove  efficacious  in  leading 
the  people  to  repentance.  If  they  failed,  nothing  would 
be  left  for  the  prophet  but  to  mourn  in  solitude  over  his 
country's  ruin  (ver.  17).  But  Jeremiah  was  fully  per- 
suaded that  the  Hand  that  had  stricken  could  heal ;  the 
Power  that  had  brought  the  invaders  into  Judah,  could 
cause  them  to  *^  return  by  the  way  that  they  had  come  " 
(Isa.  xxxvii.  34),  Of  course  such  a  view  is  unintel- 
ligible from  the  standpoint  of  unbelief;  but  then  the 
standpoint  of  the  prophets  is  faith. 

3.  After  this  general  appeal  for  penitence,  the  dis- 
course turns  to  the  two  exalted  persons  whose  position 
and  interest  in  the  country  were  the  highest  of  all,  the 
youthful  king,  and  the  empress  or  queen-mother. 
They  are  addressed  in  a  tone  which,  though  not  dis- 
respectful, is  certainly  despairing.  They  are  called 
upon,  not  so  much  to  set  the  example  of  penitence 
(cf.  Jonah  iii.  6),  as  to  take  up  the  attitude  of  mourners 
(Job  ii.  13;  Isa.  iii.  26;  Lam.  ii.  lO;  Ezek.  xxvi.  16) 
in   presence  of  the  public  disasters.     Say  thou  to  the 


294  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

king  and  to  the  empress.  Sit  ye  low  on  the  ground  !  (lit. 
make  low  your  seat !  cf.  Isa.  vii.  for  the  construction) 
for  it  is  fallen  from  your  heads  ^ — your  beautiful  crown  ! 
(Lam.  V.  1 6).  The  cities  of  the  south  are  shut  fast, 
and  there  is  none  that  openeth  (Josh.  vi.  i) :  Judah  is 
carried  away  captive  all  of  her^  she  is  wholly  carried 
away.  There  is  no  hope ;  it  is  vain  to  expect  help ; 
nothing  is  left  but  to  bemoan  the  irreparable.  The 
siege  of  the  great  fortresses  of  the  scuth  country  and 
the  sweeping  away  of  the  rural  population  were  sure 
signs  of  what  was  coming  upon  Jerusalem.  The 
embattled  cities  themselves  may  be  suggested  by  the 
fallen  crown  of  beauty ;  Isaiah  calls  Samaria  "  the 
proud  crown  of  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim  "  (Isa.  xxviii. 
i),  and  cities  are  commonly  represented  in  ancient  art 
by  female  figures  wearing  mural  crowns.  In  that  case, 
both  verses  are  addressed  to  the  sovereigns,  and  the 
second  is  exegetical  of  the  first. 

As  already  observed,  there  is  here  no  censure,  but 
only  sorrowful  despair  over  the  dark  outlook.  In  the 
same  way,  Jeremiah's  utterance  (xxii.  20  sqq.)  about  the 
fate  of  Jehoiachin  is  less  a  malediction  than  a  lament. 
And  when  we  further  consider  his  favourable  judgment 
of  the  first  body  of  exiles,  who  were  carried  away  with 
this  monarch  soon  after  the  time  of  the  present  oracle 
(chap,  xxiv.),  we  may  perhaps  see  reason  to  conclude 
that  the  surrender  of  Jerusalem  to  the  Chaldeans  on 
this  occasion  was  partly  due  to  his  advice.  The 
narrative  of  Kings,  however,  is  too  brief  to  enable  us 
to  come  to  any  certain  decision  about  the  circumstances 
of  Jehoiachin's  submission  (2  Kings  xxiv.  10-12). 


•LXX.  dirh  KttpaXrjg  vn&v.    Read  DD^rib^X'5P  =  D;)^^N'5D;  and  cf. 
Assyrian  resu,  plur.  re^e'tu  ( •=  Dli^'N"!). 


xiii.]  THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE,  295 

4.  From  the  sovereigns,  the  prophet  turns  to  Jeru- 
salem. Lift  up  thine  eyes  (O  Jerusalem^'),  and  behold 
them  that  came  from  the  north  !  Where  is  the  flock  that 
was  given  to  thee^  thy  beautiful  sheep  ?  What  zvdt  thou 
say  when  He  shall  appoint  over  thee — nay,  thou  thyself  hast 
spurred  them  against  thyself! — lovers  (iii.  4,  xi.  19)  for 
head?  Will  not  pangs  take  thee,  as  a  woman  in 
travail?  Jerusalem  sits  upon  her  hills,  as  a  beautiful 
shepherdess.  The  country  towns  and  unwalled  villages 
lay  about  her,  like  a  fair  flock  of  sheep  and  goats 
entrusted  to  her  care  and  keeping.  But  now  these 
have  been  destroyed  and  their  pastures  are  made  a 
silent  solitude,  and  the  destroyer  is  advancing  against 
herself.  What  pangs  of  shame  and  terror  will  be  hers, 
when  she  recognises  in  the  enemy  triumphing  over  her 
grievous  downfall  the  heathen  ''  friends  "  whose  love 
she  had  courted  so  long !  Her  sin  is  to  be  her  scourge. 
She  shall  be  made  the  thrall  of  her  foreign  lovers, 
lahvah  will  "  appoint  them  over  her "  (xv.  3,  li.  27) ; 
they  will  become  the  '^  head,"  and  she  the  '*  tail " 
(Lam.  i.  5  ;  Deut.  xxviii.  44).  Yet  this  will,  in  truth, 
be  her  own  doing,  not  lahvah's ;  she  has  herself 
"accustomed  them  to  herself"  (x.  2),  or  "instructed" 
or  "spurred  them  on"  against  herself  (ii.  33,  iv.  18). 
The  revolt  of  Jehoiakim,  his  wicked  breach  of  faith  with 

'  For  D2^yi;  we  might  read,  with  LXX.,  Vat.,  DC^L^^n^)  'y^^V.  The 
Arabic  has  Israel.  But  Vulg.  and  Targ,  agree  with  the  Q'rS,  and  take 
the  verbs  as  plur.  :  "  Lift  ye  up  your  eyes  and  see  who  are  coming 
from  the  north."  The  sing.  fem.  is  to  be  preferred  as  the  more 
difficult  reading,  and  on  account  of  ver.  21,  where  it  recurs.  Jeru- 
salem is  addressed  (ver.  27),  and  "your  eyes,"  plur.  masc.  pron., 
may  be  justified  as  indicating  the  collective  sense  of  the  fem.  sing. 
The  population  of  the  capital  is  meant.  Cf.  Mic.  i.  1 1  ;  Jer.  xxi. 
13,  14.  In  ver.  23,  the  masc.  plur.  appears  again,  the  figure  for  a 
moment  being  dropped. 


296  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


Nebuchadrezzar,  had  turned  friends  to  enemies  (iv.  30). 
But  the  chief  reference  seems  to  be  more  general — the 
continual  craving  of  Judah  for  foreign  alliances  and 
foreign  worships.  And  if  thou  say  in  thine  heart,  "  Where- 
fore did  these  things  befall  me  ?  "  through  the  greatness  of 
thy  guilt  were  thy  skirts  uncovered,  thine  heels  violated 
(Nah.  iii.  5)  or  exposed.  Will  a  Cushite  change  his  skin^ 
or  a  leopard  his  spots  ?  ye,  too,  are  ye  able  to  do  good,  O 
ye  that  are  wont  to  do  evil  ?  If  amid  the  sharp  throes 
of  suffering  Jerusalem  should  still  fail  to  recognise  the 
moral  cause  of  them  (v.  19),  she  may  be  assured  before- 
hand that  her  unspeakable  dishonour  is  the  reward  of 
her  sins  ;  that  is  why  "  the  virgin  daughter  of  Sion  "  is 
surprised  and  ravished  by  the  foe  (a  common  figure  : 
Isa.  xlvii.  1-3).  Sin  has  become  so  ingrained  in  her, 
that  it  can  no  more  be  eradicated  than  the  blackness 
of  an  African  skin,  or  the  spots  of  a  leopard's  hide. 
-The  habit  of  sinning  has  become  ^'a  second  nature," 
and,  Hke  nature,  is  not  to  be  expelled  (cf.  viii.  4-7). 

The  effect  of  use  and  wont  in  the  moral  sphere  could 
hardly  be  expressed  more  forcibly,  and  Jeremiah's 
comparison  has  become  a  proverb.  Custom  binds  us 
all  in  every  department  of  life  ;  it  is  only  by  enlisting 
this  strange  influence  upon  the  side  of  virtue,  that 
we  become  virtuous.  Neither  virtue  nor  vice  can 
be  pronounced  perfect,  until  the  habit  of  either  has 
become  fixed  and  invariable.  It  is  the  tendency  of 
habitual  action  of  any  kind  to  become  automatic ;  and 
it  is  certain  that  sin  may  attain  such  a  mastery  over 
the  active  powers  of  a  man  that  its  indulgence  may 
become  almost  an  unconscious  exercise  of  his  will,  and 
quite  a  matter  of  course.  But  this  fearful  result  of 
evil  habits  does  not  excuse  them  at  the  bar  of  common 
sense,  much  less  at  the  tribunal  of  God.    The  inveterate 


iL]  THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE.  297 


sinner,  the  man  totally  devoid  of  scruple,  whose  con- 
science is,  as  it  were,  '*  seared  with  a  hot  iron,"  is  not 
on  that  account  excused  by  the  common  judgment  of 
his  kind ;  the  feeUng  he  excites  is  not  forbearance,  but 
abhorrence  ;  he  is  regarded  not  as  a  poor  victim  of 
circumstances  over  which  he  has  no  control,  but  as  a 
monster  of  iniquity.  And  justly  so  ;  for  if  he  has  lost 
control  of  his  passions,  if  he  is  no  longer  master  of 
himself,  but  the  slave  of  vice,  he  is  responsible  for  the 
long  course  of  self-indulgence  which  has  made  him 
what  he  is.  The  prophet's  comparison  cannot  be 
applied  in  support  of  a  doctrine  of  immoral  fatahsm. 
The  very  fact  that  he  makes  use  of  it,  implies  that  he 
did  not  intend  it  to  be  understood  in  such  a  sense. 
"  Will  a  Cushite  change  his  skin,  or  a  leopard  his  spots  ? 
Ye  also — supposing  such  a  change  as  that — will  be  able 
to  do  good,  O  ye  that  are  taught — trained,  accustomed — 
to  do  evil  I "  (perhaps  the  preferable  rendering). 

Not  only  must  we  abstain  from  treating  a  rhetorical 
figure  as  a  colourless  and  rigorous  proposition  of 
mathematical  science  ;  not  only  must  we  allow  for  the 
irony  and  the  exaggeration  of  the  preacher :  we  must 
also  remember  his  object,  which  is,  if  possible,  to  shock 
his  hearers  into  a  sense  of  their  condition,  and  to 
awaken  remorse  and  repentance  even  at  the  eleventh 
hour.  His  last  words  (ver.  27)  prove  that  he  did  not 
believe  this  result,  improbable  as  it  was,  to  be  altogether 
impossible.  Unless  some  sense  of  sin  had  survived 
in  their  hearts,  unless  the  terms,  ^'  good  "  and  "  evil," 
had  still  retained  a  meaning  for  his  countrymen, 
Jeremiah  would  hardly  have  laboured  still  so  strenu- 
ously to  convince  them  of  their  sin. 

For  the  present,  when  retribution  is  already  at  the 
doors,   when    already    the    Divine   wrath    has    visibly 


298  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

broken  forth,  his  prevailing  purpose  is  not  so  much  to 
suggest  a  way  of  escape,  as  to  bring  home  to  the  heart 
and  conscience  of  the  nation  the  true  meaning  of 
the  public  calamities.  They  are  the  consequence  of 
habitual  rebellion  against  God.  And  I  will  scatter  them 
like  stubble  passing  away  to  (= before :  cf.  xix.  lo)  the 
wind  of  the  wilderness.  This  is  thy  lot  i^fem.  thine,  O 
Jerusalem),  the  portion  of  thy  measures  (others  :  /«/>) 
from  Me^  saith  lahvah ;  because  thou  forgattest  Me,  and 
didst  trust  in  the  Lie.  And  I  also — /  will  surely  strip 
thy  skirts  to  thy  face,  and  thy  shame  shall  be  seen  !  (Nah. 
iii.  5).  Thine  adulteries  and  thy  neighings,  the  foulness 
of  thy  fornications  upon  the  hills  in  the  f  eld  (iii.  2-6) — 
/  have  seen  thine  abominations  /  (For  the  construction, 
compare  Isa.  i.  13.)  JVoe  unto  thee,  O  Jerusalem! 
After  how  long  yet  wilt  thou  not  become  clean  ?  (2  Kings 
V.  12,  13).  That  which  lies  before  the  citizens  in  the 
near  future  is  not  deliverance,  but  dispersion  in  foreign 
lands.  The  onset  of  the  foe  will  sweep  them  away,  as 
the  blast  from  the  desert  drives  before  it  the  dry 
stubble  of  the  corn-fields  (cf.  iv.  1 1,  12).  This  is  no 
chance  calamity,  but  a  recompense  allotted  and  meted 
out  by  lahvah  to  the  city  that  forgot  Him  and 
"  trusted  in  the  Lie "  of  Baal-worship  and  the 
associated  superstitions.  The  city  that  dealt  shame- 
fully in  departing  from  her  God,  and  dallying  with 
foul  idols,  shall  be  put  to  shame  by  Him  before  all  the 
world  (ver.  26  recurring  to  the  thought  of  ver.  22,  but 
ascribing  the  exposure  directly  to  lahvah).  Woe — 
certain  woe — awaits  Jerusalem;  and  it  is  but  a  faint 
and  far-off  glimmer  of  hope  that  is  reflected  in  the  final 
question,  which  is  like  a  weary  sigh :  After  how  long  yet 
wilt  thou  not  become  clean  ?  How  long  must  the  fiery 
process  of  cleansing  go  on,  ere  thou  be  purged  of  thine 


xiii.]  THE  FALL   OF  PRIDE.  299 

inveterate  sins  ?  It  is  a  recognition  that  the  punish- 
ment will  not  be  exterminative  ;  that  God's  chastise- 
ments of  His  people  can  no  more  fail  at  last  than  His 
promises  ;  that  the  triumph  of  a  heathen  power  and 
the  disappearance  of  lahvah's  Israel  from  under  His 
heaven  cannot  be  the  final  phase  of  that  long  eventful 
history  which  began  with  the  call  of  Abraham. 


IX. 

THE  DROUGHT  AND  ITS  MORAL  IMPLICATIONS, 
Jeremiah  xiv.,  xv.  (xviL?). 

VARIOUS  opinions  have  been  expressed  about  the 
division  of  these  chapters.  They  have  been  cut 
up  into  short  sections,  supposed  to  be  more  or  less  inde- 
pendent of  each  other  /  and  they  have  been  regarded  as 
constituting  a  well-organized  whole,  at  least  so  far  as 
the  eighteenth  verse  of  chap.  xvii.  The  truth  may  lie 
between  these  extremes.  Chapters  xiv.,  xv.  certainly 
hang  together;  for  in  them  the  prophet  represents  himself 
as  twice  interceding  with  lahvah  on  behalf  of  the  people, 
and  twice  receiving  a  refusal  of  his  petition  (xiv.  i-xv.  4), 
the  latter  reply  being  sterner  and  more  decisive  than 
the  first.  The  occasion  was  a  long  period  of  drought, 
involving  much  privation  for  man  and  beast.  The 
connexion  between  the  parts  of  this  first  portion  of  the 
discourse  is  clear  enough.  The  prophet  prays  for  his 
people,  and  God  answers  that  He  has  rejected  them, 
and  that  intercession  is  futile.  Thereupon,  Jeremiah 
throws  the  blame  of  the  national  sins  upon  the  false 
prophets ;  and  the  answer  is  that  both  the  people  and 

'  HiTziG :  (i)  xiv.  1-9,  19-22  :  "  Lament  and  Prayer  on  occasion  of 
a  Drought."  (2)  xiv.  10-18.  "Oracle  against  the  false  Prophets  and 
the  misguided  People  "  (Hitzig  mistakes  the  import  of  the  phrase 
V^3?  I^nt?  p,  "  Thus  have  they  loved  to  wander,"  ver.  10 ;  .supposing 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  301 

their  false  guides  will  perish.  The  prophet  then  solilo- 
quises upon  his  own  hard  fate  as  a  herald  of  evil 
tidings,  and  receives  directions  for  his  own  personal 
guidance  in  this  crisis  of  affairs  (xv.  lO-xvi.  9).  There 
is  a  pause  but  no  real  break  at  the  end  of  chap.  xv. 
The  next  chapter  resumes  the  subject  of  directions 
personally  affecting  the  prophet  himself;  and  the  dis- 
course is  then  continuous  so  far  as  xvii.  18,  although, 
naturally  enough,  it  is  broken  here  and  there  by  pauses 
of  considerable  duration,  marking  transitions  of  thought, 
and  progress  in  the  argument. 

The  heading  of  the  entire  piece  is  marked  in  the 

that  the  "  thus "  refers  to  xiii.  27,  and  that  xiv.  1-9  is  misplaced). 
(3)  XV.  1-9.  "  The  incorrigible  People  will  be  punished  mercilessly." 
Hitzig  thinks  C.  B.  Michaelis  wrong  in  asserting  close  connexion 
with  the  end  of  the  preceding  chapter,  because  the  intercession,  w. 
2-9,  does  not  agree  with  the  prohibition,  xiv.  II  ;  and  because  xiv. 
19-22,  merely  prays  for  cessation  of  the  Drought ;  while  the  rejection 
of  "the  hypothetical  intercession,"  xv.  I,  delivers  the  people  over 
to  all  the  horrors  which  follow  in  the  train  of  war.  xv.  1-9  may 
originally  have  followed  xiv.  18.  But  this  is  far  from  cogent  reason- 
ing. There  is  nothing  surprising  in  the  renewal  of  the  prophet's 
intercession,  except  on  a  theory  of  strictly  verbal  inspiration ;  and  xv. 
I  sqq,  in  refusing  dehverance  from  the  Drought,  or  rather  in  answer 
to  the  prayer  imploring  it,  announces  further  and  worse  evils  to 
follow.  (4)  "Complaint  of  the  Seer  against  lahvah,  and  Soothing 
of  his  Dejection,"  xv.  IO-2I.  Hitzig  thinks  internal  evidence  here 
points  to  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim ;  and  that  xvil  I-4  originally 
preceded  this  section,  especially  as  ch.  xvi.  connects  closely  with  xv.  9. 
(5)  xvi.  1-20.  "  Prediction  of  an  imminent  general  Judgment  by  Plague 
and  Captivity."  Written  immediately  after  xv.  1-9,  and  falls  with 
that  in  the  short  reign  of  Jehoiachin.  (6)  xvii.  1-4.  "  Judah's  unfor- 
gotten  Guilt  will  be  punished  by  Captivity."  Wanting  in  LXX.  (as 
early  as  Jerome),  but  contains  original  of  xv.  13,  14,  and  must  there- 
fore be  genuine.  Belongs  602  e.g.,  year  of  Jehoiakim's  revolt.  (7) 
xvii.  5-18.  "The  Vindication  of  Trust  in  God  on  Despisers  and 
Believers.  Prayer  for  its  Vindication."  Date  immediately  after  death 
of  Jehoiakim.  (8)19-27.  "  Warning  to  keep  the  Sabbath."  Time 
of  Jehoiachin. 


302  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


original  by  a  peculiar  inversion  of  terms,  which  meets 
us  again,  chap.  xlvi.  I,  xlvii.  I,  xlix.  34,  but  which,  in 
spite  of  this  recurrence,  wears  a  rather  suspicious  look. 
We  might  render  it  thus  :  *'  What  fell  as  a  word  of 
lahvah  to  Jeremiah,  on  account  of  the  droughts" 
(the  plural  is  intensive,  or  it  signifies  the  long  con- 
tinuance of  the  trouble — as  if  one  rainless  period 
followed  upon  another).  Whether  or  not  the  singular 
order  of  the  words  be  authentic,  the  recurrence  at  chap, 
xvii.  8  of  the  remarkable  term  for  "drought"  (Heb. 
baccoreth  of  which  baccardth  here  is  plur.)  favours 
the  view  that  that  chapter  is  an  integral  portion  of 
the  present  discourse.  The  exordium  (xiv.  1-9)  is  a 
poetical  sketch  of  the  miseries  of  man  and  beast,  closing 
with  a  beautiful  prayer.  It  has  been  said  that  this  is 
not  "a  word  of  lahvah  to  Jeremiah,"  but  rather  the 
reverse.  If  we  stick  to  the  letter,  this  no  doubt  is  the 
case ;  but,  as  we  have  seen  in  former  discourses,  the 
phrase  '*  lahvah's  word  "  meant  in  prophetic  use  very 
much  more  than  a  direct  message  from  God,  or  a  pre- 
diction uttered  at  the  Divine  instigation.  Here,  as 
elsewhere,  the  prophet  evidently  regards  the  course  of 
his  own  religious  reflexion  as  guided  by  Him  who 
"  fashioneth  the  hearts  of  men,"  and  "  knoweth  their 
thoughts  long  before ; "  and  if  the  question  had  sug- 
gested itself,  he  would  certainly  have  referred  his  own 
poetic  powers — the  tenderness  of  his  pity,  the  vividness 
of  his  apprehension,  the  force  of  his  passion, — to  the 
inspiration  of  the  Lord  who  had  called  and  consecrated 
him  from  the  birth,  to  speak  in  His  Name. 

There  lies  at  the  heart  of  many  of  us  a  feeling,  which 
has  lurked  there,  more  or  less  without  our  cognisance, 
ever  since  the  childish  days  when  the  Old  Testament 
was  read  at   the   mother's   knee,  and    explained   and 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT,  303 

understood  in  a  manner  proportioned  to  the  faculties 
of  childhood.  When  we  hear  the  phrase  '*  The  Lord 
spake,"  we  instinctively  think,  if  we  think  at  all,  of  an 
actual  voice  knocking  sensibly  at  the  door  of  the  out- 
ward ear.  It  was  not  so;  nor  did  the  sacred  writer 
mean  it  so.  A  knowledge  of  Hebrew  idiom — the 
modes  of  expression  usual  and  possible  in  that  ancient 
speech — assures  us  that  this  statement,  so  startlingly 
direct  in  its  unadorned  simplicity,  was  the  accepted 
mode  of  conveying  a  meaning  which  we,  in  our  more 
complex  and  artificial  idioms,  would  convey  by  the  use 
of  a  multitude  of  words,  in  terms  far  more  abstract,  in 
language  destitute  of  all  that  colour  of  life  and  reality 
which  stamps  the  idiom  of  the  Bible.  It  is  as  though 
the  Divine  lay  farther  off  from  us  moderns ;  as  though 
the  marvellous  progress  of  all  that  new  knowledge  of 
the  measureless  magnitude  of  the  world,  of  the  power 
and  complexity  of  its  machinery,  of  the  surpassing 
subtlety  and  the  matchless  perfection  of  its  laws  and 
processes,  had  become  an  impassable  barrier,  at  least 
an  impenetrable  veil,  between  our  minds  and  God.  We 
have  lost  the  sense  of  His  nearness,  of  His  immediacy, 
so  to  speak ;  because  we  have  gained,  and  are  ever 
intensifying,  a  sense  of  the  nearness  of  the  world  with 
which  He  environs  us.  Hence,  when  we  speak  of 
Him,  we  naturally  cast  about  either  for  poetical  phrases 
and  figures,  which  must  always  be  more  or  less  vague 
and  undefined,  or  for  highly  abstract  expressions,  which 
may  suggest  scientific  exactness,  but  are,  in  truth, 
scholastic  formulae,  dry  as  the  dust  of  the  desert, 
untouched  by  the  breath  of  life ;  and  even  if  they  affirm 
a  Person,  destitute  of  all  those  living  characters  by 
which  we  instinctively  and  without  effort  recognise 
Personality.     We  make  only  a  conventional  use  of  the 


304  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

language  of  the  sacred  writers,  of  the  prophets  and 
prophetic  historians,  of  the  psalmists,  and  the  legalists 
of  the  Old  Testament ;  the  language  which  is  the  native 
expression  of  a  peculiar  intensity  of  religious  faith, 
realizing  the  Unseen  as  the  Actual  and,  in  truth,  the 
only  Real. 

"  Judah  mourneth  and  the  gates  thereof  languish, 
They  are  clad  in  black  down  to  the  ground ; 
And  the  cry  of  Jerusalem  hath  gone  up. 
And  their  nobles  have  sent  their  lesser  folk  for  water; 
They  have  been  to  the  pits,  and  found  no  water : 
Their  vessels  have  come  back  empty ; 
Ashamed  and  confounded,  they  have  covered  their  heads. 

"  Because  the  ground  is  chapt,  for  there  hath  not  been  rain 
in  the  land, 
The  plowmen  are  ashamed,  they  have  covered  their  heads. 

"  For  even  the  hind  in  the  field  hath  yeaned  and  forsaken 
her  fawn, 
For  there  is  no  grass. 

And  the  wild  asses  stand  on  the  bare  fells ; 
They  snuff  the  wind  like  jackals  ; 
Their  eyes  fail,  for  there  is  no  pasturage. 

"  If  our  sins  have  answered  against  us, 
lahweh,  act  for  Thine  own  Name  sake ; 
For  our  relapses  are  many ; 
Against  Thee  have  we  trespassed. 

"  Hope  of  Israel,  that  savest  him  in  time  of  trouble, 
Wherefore  wilt  Thou  be  as  a  stranger  in  the  land. 
And  as  a  traveller  that  leaveth  the  road  but  for  the  night  ? 
Wherefore  wilt  Thou  be  as  a  man  o'erpowered  with  sleep, 
As  a  warrior  that  cannot  rescue  ? 

"  Sith  Thou  art  in  our  midst,  O  lahvah. 
And  Thy  Name  upon  us  hath  been  called ; 
Cast  us  not  down  ! " 

How  beautiful  both  plaint  and   prayer  I     The  simple 
description  of  the  effects  of  the  drought  is  as  lifehke 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT,  305 

and  impressive  as  a  good  picture.  The  whole  country 
is  stricken  ;  the  city-gates,  the  place  of  common  resort, 
where  the  citizens  meet  for  business  and  for  conversa- 
tion, are  gloomy  with  knots  of  mourners  robed  in  black 
from  head  to  foot,  or,  as  the  Hebrew  may  also  imply, 
sitting  on  the  ground,  in  the  garb  and  posture  of  deso- 
lation (Lam.  ii.  10,  iii.  28).  The  magnates  of  Jeru- 
salem send  out  their  retainers  to  find  water ;  and  we 
see  them  returning  with  empty  vessels,  their  heads 
mufQed  in  their  cloaks,  in  sign  of  grief  at  the  failure 
of  their  errand  (cf.  I  Kings  xviii.  5,  6).  The  parched 
ground  everywhere  gapes  with  fissures ;  ^  the  yeomen 
go  about  with  covered  heads  in  deepest  dejection.  The 
distress  is  universal,  and  affects  not  man  only,  but  the 
brute  creation.  Even  the  gentle  hind,  that  proverb  of 
maternal  tenderness,  is  driven  by  sorest  need  to  for- 
sake the  fruit  of  her  hard  travail ;  her  starved  dugs  are 
dry,  and  she  flies  from  her  helpless  offspring.  The 
wild  asses  of  the  desert,  fleet,  beautiful  and  keen-eyed 
creatures,  scan  the  withered  landscape  from  the  naked 
cHffs,  and  snuff  the  wind,  Hke  jackals  scenting  prey ; 
but  neither  sight  nor  smell  suggests  relief  There  is 
no  moisture  in  the  air,  no  glimpse  of  pasture  in  the 
wide  sultry  land. 

The  prayer  is  a  humble  confession  of  sin,  an  un- 
reserved admission  that  the  woes  of  man  evince  the 
righteousness  of  God.  Unlike  certain  modern  poets, 
who  bewail  the  sorrows  of  the  world  as  the  mere  in- 
fliction of  a  harsh  and  arbitrary  and  inevitable  Destiny, 
Jeremiah  makes  no  doubt  that  human  sufferings  are  due 


'  The  Heb.  verb  nriPI  "is  broken  "  may  probably  have  this  meaning. 
"  Dismayed  "  is  not  nearly  so  suitable,  though  it  is  the  usual  meaning 
of  the  term.     Cf.  Isa.  vii.  8. 

20 


3o6  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

to  the  working  of  Divine  justice.  "  Our  sins  have 
answered  against  our  pleas  at  Thy  judgment  seat ; 
our  relapses  are  many;  against  Thee  have  we  tres- 
passed/' against  Thee,  the  sovereign  Disposer  of  events, 
the  Source  of  all  that  happens  and  all  that  is.  If  this 
be  so,  what  plea  is  left  ?  None,  but  that  appeal  to  the 
Name  of  lahvah,  with  which  the  prayer  begins  and 
ends.  "Act  for  Thine  own  Name  sake."  .  .  .  ''Thy 
Name  upon  us  hath  been  called."  Act  for  Thine  own 
honour,  that  is,  for  the  honour  of  Mercy,  Compassion, 
Truth,  Goodness  ;  which  Thou  hast  revealed  Thyself 
to  be,  and  which  are  parts  of  Thy  glorious  Name 
(Ex.  xxxiv.  6).  Pity  the  wretched,  and  pardon  the 
guilty ;  for  so  will  Thy  glory  increase  amongst  men ; 
so  will  man  learn  that  the  relentings  of  love  are 
diviner  affections  than  the  ruthlessness  of  wrath  and 
the  cravings  of  vengeance. 

There  is  also  a  touching  appeal  to  the  past.  The 
very  name  by  which  Israel  was  sometimes  designated 
as  ''the  people  of  lahvah,"  just  as  Moab  was  known 
by  the  name  of  its  god  as  "  the  people  of  Chemosh" 
(Num.  xxi.  29),  is  alleged  as  proof  that  the  nation 
has  an  interest  in  the  compassion  of  Him  whose  name 
it  bears  ;  and  it  is  implied  that,  since  the  world  knows 
Israel  as  lahvah's  people,  it  will  not  be  for  lahvah's 
honour  that  this  people  should  be  suffered  to  perish 
in  their  sins.  Israel  had  thus,  from  the  outset  of  its 
history,  been  associated  and  identified  with  lahvah; 
however  ill  the  true  nature  of  the  tie  has  been  under- 
stood, however  unworthily  the  relation  has  been 
conceived  by  the  popular  mind,  however  little  the 
obligations  involved  in  the  call  of  their  fathers  have  been 
recognised  and  appreciated.  God  must  be  true,  though 
man  be  false.     There  is  no  weakness,  no  caprice,  no 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT. 


307 


vacillation  in  God.  In  bygone  *'  times  of  trouble  "  the 
"  Hope  of  Israel "  had  saved  Israel  over  and  over 
again;  it  was  a  truth  admitted  by  all — even  by  the 
prophet's  enemies.  Surely  then  He  will  save  His 
people  once  again,  and  vindicate  His  Name  of  Saviour. 
Surely  He  who  has  dwelt  in  their  midst  so  many 
changeful  centuries,  will  not  now  behold  their  trouble 
with  the  lukewarm  feeling  of  an  alien  dwelling  amongst 
them  for  a  time,  but  unconnected  with  them  by  ties 
of  blood  and  kin  and  common  country ;  or  with  the 
indifference  of  the  traveller  who  is  but  coldly  affected 
by  the  calamities  of  a  place  where  he  has  only  lodged 
one  night.  Surely  the  entire  past  shews  that  it 
would  be  utterly  inconsistent  for  lahvah  to  appear 
now  as  a  man  so  buried  in  sleep  that  He  cannot  be 
roused  to  save  His  friends  from  imminent  destruction 
(cf.  I  Kings  xviii.  27)  (St.  Mark  iv.  38).  He  who  had 
borne  Israel  and  carried  him  as  a  tender  nurseling  all 
the  days  of  old  (Isa.  Ixiii.  9)  could  hardly  without 
changing  His  own  unchangeable  Name,  His  character 
and  purposes,  cast  down  His  people  and  forsake  them 
at  last. 

Such  is  the  drift  of  the  prophet's  first  prayer.  To 
this  apparently  unanswerable  argument  his  religious 
meditation  upon  the  present  distress  has  brought  him. 
But  presently  the  thought  returns  with  added  force, 
with  a  sense  of  utmost  certitude,  with  a  conviction 
that  it  is  lahvah's  Word,  that  the  people  have  wrought 
out  their  own  afQiction,  that  misery  is  the  hire  of 
sin. 


"Thus  hath  lahvah  said  of  this  people; 
Even  so  have  they  loved  to  wander, 
Their  feet  they  have  not  refrained ; 
And  as  for  lahvah,  He  accepteth  them  not; 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


"  He  now  remembereth  their  guilt, 
And  visiteth  their  trespasses. 
And  lahvah  said  unto  me, 
Intercede  thou  not  for  this  people  for  good ! 
If  they  fast,  I  will  not  hearken  unto  their  cry ; 
And  if  they  offer  whole-offering  and  oblation, 
I  will  not  accept  their  persons  ; 

But  by  the  sword,  the  famine,  and  the  plague,  will  I  consume 
them. 

"  And  I  said,  Ah,  Lord  lahvah ! 
Behold  the  prophets  say  to  them.  Ye  shall  not  see  sword. 
And  famine  shall  not  befall  you ; 
For  peace  and  permanence  will  I  give  you  in  this  place, 

"  And  lahvah  said  unto  me  : 
Falsehood  it  is  that  the  prophets  prophesy  in  My  Name, 
I  sent  them  not,  and  I  charged  them  not,  and  I  spake  not 

unto  them. 
A  vision  of  falsehood  and  jugglery  and  nothingness,  and  the 

guile  of  their  own  heart, 
They,  for  their  part,  prophesy  you. 

"  Therefore  thus  said  lahvah  : 
Concerning  the  prophets  who  prophesy  in  My  Name,  albeit 

I  sent  them  not, 
And  of  themselves  say.  Sword  and  famine  there  shall  not  be 

in  this  land ; 
By  the  sword  and  by  the  famine  shall  those  prophets  be 

fordone. 
And  the  people  to  whom  they  prophesy  shall  lie  thrown 

out  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem, 
Because  of  the  famine  and  the  sword. 
With  none  to  bury  them, — 

Themselves,  their  wives,  and  their  sons  and  their  daughters : 
And  I  will  pour  upon  them  their  own  evil. 
And  thou  shalt  say  unto  them  this  word : 
Let  mine  eyes  run  down  with  tears,  night  and  day, 
And  let  them  not  tire  ; 
For  with  mighty  breach  is  broken 
The  virgin  daughter  of  my  people— 
With  a  very  grievous  blow. 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROLGHT.  309 

If  I  go  forth  into  the  field, 

Then  behold  !  the  slain  of  the  sword ; 

And  if  I  enter  the  city, 

Then  behold  !  the  pinings  of  famine  : 

For  both  prophet  and  priest  go  trafficking  about  the  land, 

And  understand  not."  ^ 

It  has  been  supposed  that  this  whole  section  is  mis- 
placed, and  that  it  would  properly  follow  the  close  of 
chap.  xiii.  The  supposition  is  due  to  a  misapprehension 
of  the  force  of  the  pregnant  particle  which  introduces 
the  reply  of  lahvah  to  the  prophet's  intercession. 
"  Even  so  have  they  loved  to  wander ; "  even  so,  as  is 
naturally  implied  by  the  severity  of  the  punishment  of 
which  thou  complainest.  The  dearth  is  prolonged  ;  the 
distress  is  widespread  and  grievous.  So  prolonged,  50 
grievous,  50  universal,  has  been  their  rebellion  against 
Me.  The  penalty  corresponds  to  the  offence.  It  is 
really  "  their  own  evil "  that  is  being  poured  out  upon 
their  guilty  heads  (ver.  16;  cf  iv.  18).  lahvah  can- 
not accept  them  in  their  sin ;  the  long  drought  is  a 
token  that  their  guilt  is  before  His  mind,  unrepented, 
unatoned.  Neither  the  supplications  of  another,  nor 
their  own  fasts  and  sacrifices,  avail  to  avert  the  visita- 
tion. So  long  as  the  disposition  of  the  heart  remains 
unaltered ;  so  long  as  man  hates,  not  his  darling  sins, 
but  the  penalties  they  entail,  it  is  idle  to  seek  to  pro- 
pitiate Heaven  by  such  means  as  these.  And  not  only 
so.  The  droughts  are  but  a  foretaste  of  worse  evils 
to  come ;  by  the  sword,  the  famine,  and  the  plague 
will  I  consume  them.  The  condition  is  understood, 
If  they  repent  and  amend  not.  This  is  implied  by  the 
prophet's  seeking  to  palliate  the  national  guilt,  as  he 
proceeds  to  do,  by  the  suggestion  that  the  people  are 

*  C£  viii.  9.     "  And  no  wisdom  is  in  them." 


3IO  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

more  sinned  against  than  sinning,  deluded  as  they  are 
by  false  prophets ;  as  also  by  the  renewal  of  his  inter- 
cession (ver.  19).  Had  he  been  aware  in  his  inmost 
heart  that  an  irreversible  sentence  had  gone  forth 
against  his  people,  would  he  have  been  likely  to  think 
either  excuses  or  intercessions  availing?  Indeed, 
however  absolute  the  threats  "of  the  prophetic  preachers 
may  sound,  they  must,  as  a  rule,  be  qualified  by  this 
limitation,  which,  whether  expressed  or  not,  is  insepar- 
able from  the  object  of  their  discourses,  which  was  the 
moral  amendment  of  those  who  heard  them. 

Of  the  "  false,"  that  is,  the  common  run  of  prophets, 
who  were  in  league  with  the  venal  priesthood  of  the 
time,  and  no  less  worldly  and  self-seeking  than  their 
allies,  we  note  that,  as  usual,  they  foretell  what  the 
people  wishes  to  hear ;  ^'  Peace  (Prosperity),  and  Per- 
manence," is  the  burden  of  their  oracles.  They  knew 
that  invectives  against  prevailing  vices,  and  denuncia- 
tions of  national  follies,  and  forecasts  of  approaching 
ruin,  were  unlikely  means  of  winning  popularity  and 
a  substantial  harvest  of  offerings.  At  the  same  time, 
like  other  false  teachers,  they  knew  how  to  veil  their 
errors  under  the  mask  of  truth ;  or  rather,  they  were 
themselves  deluded  by  their  own  greed,  and  bHnded  by 
their  covetousness  to  the  plain  teaching  of  events. 
They  might  base  their  doctrine  of  *'  Peace  and  Perman- 
ence in  this  place  !  "  upon  those  utterances  of  the  great 
Isaiah,  which  had  been  so  signally  verified  in  the  life- 
time of  the  seer  himself;  but  their  keen  pursuit  of 
selfish  ends,  their  moral  degradation,  caused  them  to 
shut  their  eyes  to  everything  else  in  his  teachings,  and, 
like  his  contemporaries,  they  *'  regarded  not  the  work 
of  lahvah,  nor  the  operation  of  His  hand."  Jeremiah 
accuses  them  of  *'  lying  visions ; "  visions,  as  he  explains, 


xiv.,-xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  311 

which  were  the  outcome  of  magical  ceremonies,  by  aid 
of  which,  perhaps,  they  partially  deluded  themselves, 
before  deluding  others,  but  which  were,  none  the  less, 
"  things  of  nought,"  devoid  of  all  substance,  and  mere 
fictions  of  a  deceitful  and  self-deceiving  mind  (ver.  14). 
He  expressly  declares  that  they  have  no  mission ;  in 
other  words,  their  action  is  not  due  to  the  overpowering 
sense  of  a  higher  call,  but  is  inspired  by  purely  ulterior 
considerations  of  worldly  gain  and  policy.  They  pro- 
phesy to  order ;  to  the  order  of  man,  not  of  God.  If 
they  visit  the  country  districts,  it  is  with  no  spiritual 
end  in  view ;  priest  and  prophet  alike  make  a  trade  ot 
their  sacred  profession,  and,  immersed  in  their  sordid 
pursuits,  have  no  eye  for  truth,  and  no  perception  of 
the  dangers  hovering  over  their  country.  Their  mis- 
conduct and  misdirection  of  affairs  are  certain  to  bring 
destruction  upon  themselves  and  upon  those  whom 
they  mislead.  War  and  its  attendant  famine  will 
devour  them  all. 

But  the  day  of  grace  being  past,  nothing  is  left  for 
the  prophet  himself  but  to  bewail  the  ruin  of  his 
people  (ver.  17).  He  will  betake  himself  to  weeping, 
since  praying  and  preaching  are  vain.  The  words 
which  announce  this  resolve  may  portray  a  sorrowful 
experience,  or  they  may  depict  the  future  as  though 
it  were  already  present  (vv.  17,  18).  The  latter  in- 
terpretation would  suit  ver.  17,  but  hardly  the  follow- 
ing verse,  with  its  references  to  'Agoing  forth  into  the 
field,"  and  '^entering  into  the  city."  The  way  in 
which  these  specific  actions  are  mentioned  seems  to 
imply  some  present  or  recent  calamity;  and  there  is 
apparently  no  reason  why  we  may  not  suppose  that 
the  passage  was  written  at  the  disastrous  close  of  the 
reign   of  Josiah,    in   the  troublous   interval   of   three 


312  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

months,  when  Jehoahaz  was  nominal  king  in  Jerusalem, 
but  the  Egyptian  arms  were  probably  ravaging  the 
country,  and  striking  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the 
people.  In  such  a  time  of  confusion  and  bloodshed, 
tillage  would  be  neglected,  and  famine  would  naturally 
follow;  and  these  evils  would  be  greatly  aggravated 
by  drought.  The  only  other  period  which  suits  is  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim;^  but  the  former 
seems  rather  to  be  indicated  by  chap.  xv.  6-9. 

Heartbroken  at  the  sight  of  the  miseries  of  his 
country,  the  prophet  once  more  approaches  the  eternal 
throne.  His  despairing  mood  is  not  so  deep  and  dark 
as  to  drown  his  faith  in  God.  He  refuses  to  believe 
the  utter  rejection  of  Judah,  the  revocation  of  the 
covenant.     (The  measure  is  Pentameter). 

"  Hast  Thou  indeed  cast  off  Judah  ? 
Hath  Thy  soul  revolted  from  Sion  ? 
Why  hast  Thou  smitten  us,  past  healing? 
Waiting  for  peace,  and  no  good  came, 
For  a  time  of  healing,  and  behold  terror  I 

"We  know,  lahvah,  our  wickedness,  our  fathers'  guilt; 
For  we  have  trespassed  toward  Thee. 
Scorn  Thou  not,  for  Thy  Name  sake, 
Disgrace  not  Thy  glorious  throne  1 
Remember,  break  not,  Thy  covenant  with  us  1 

"  Are  there,  in  sooth,  among  the  Nothings  of  the  nations  senders 
of  rain  ? 
And  is  it  the  heavens  that  bestow  the  showers  ? 
Is  it  not  Thou,  lahvah  our  God  ? 
And  we  wait  for  Thee, 
For  Thou  it  was  that  madest  the  world."* 

'  So  Dathe,  Naegelsbach. 

"^  Lit.  "  all  these  things,"  i>,,  this  visible  world.  There  is  no  Heb. 
special  term  for  the  "  universe  "  or  "  world."  "  The  all  "  or  "  heaven 
and  earth,"  or  the  phrase  in  the  text,  are  used  in  this  sense. 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  313 


To  all  this  the  Divine  answer  is  stern  and  decisive. 
And  lahvah  said  unto  me:  If  Moses  and  Samuel 
were  to  stand  (pleading)  before  Me,  My  mind  would 
not  be  towards  this  people :  send  them  away  from  before 
Me  (dismiss  them  from  My  Presence),  that  they  may 
go  forth!  After  ages  remembered  Jeremiah  as  a 
mighty  intercessor,  "  and  the  brave  Maccabeus  could 
see  him  in  his  dream  as  a  grey-haired  man  ''  exceeding 
glorious  "  and  "  of  a  wonderful  and  excellent  majesty," 
who  '' prayed  much  for  the  people  and  for  the  holy 
city"  (2  Mace.  xv.  14).  And  the  beauty  of  the  prayers 
which  lie  like  scattered  pearls  of  faith  and  love  among 
the  prophet's  soliloquies  is  evident  at  a  glance.  But 
here  Jeremiah  himself  is  conscious  that  his  prayers  are 
unavailing ;  and  that  the  office  to  which  God  has  called 
him  is  rather  that  of  pronouncing  judgment  than  of 
interceding  for  mercy.  Even  a  Moses  or  a  Samuel, 
the  mighty  intercessors  of  the  old  heroic  times,  whose 
pleadings  had  been  irresistible  with  God,  would  now 
plead  in  vain  (Ex.  xvii.  1 1  sqq.,  xxxii.  1 1  sqq. ;  Num. 
xiv.  13  sqq.  for  Moses;  I  Sam.  vii.  9  sqq.,  xii.  16 
sqq.)  Ps.  xcix.  6;  Ecclus.  xlvi.  16  sqq.  for  Samuel). 
The  day  of  grace  has  gone,  and  the  day  of  doom  is 
come.  His  sad  function  is  to  ''  send  them  away  "  or 
'^  let  them  go  "  from  lahvah's  Presence ;  to  pronounce 
the  decree  of  their  banishment  from  the  holy  land 
where  His  temple  is,  and  where  they  have  been  wont 
to  ''  see  His  face."  The  main  part  of  his  commission 
was  ^'  to  root  out,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy, 
and  to  overthrow"  (i.  10).  And  if  they  say  unto  thee, 
Whither  are  we  to  go  forth  ?  Thou  shall  say  unto  them, 
thus  hath  lahvah  said :  They  that  belong  to  the  Death 
{i.e.  the  Plague;  as  the  Black  Death  was  spoken  of 
in  medieval  Europe)  to  death;  and  they  that  belong  to 


314  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

the  Swordj  to  the  sword;  and  they  that  belong  to  the 
Famine,  to  famine ;  and  they  that  belong  to  Captivity, 
to  captivity!  The  people  were  to  '^go  forth"  out  of 
their  own  land,  which  was,  as  it  were,  the  Presence- 
chamber  of  lahvah,  just  as  they  had  at  the  outset  of 
their  history  gone  forth  out  of  Egypt,  to  take  possession 
of  it.  The  words  convey  a  sentence  of  exile,  though 
they  do  not  indicate  the  place  of  banishment.  The 
menace  of  woe  is  as  general  in  its  terms  as  that  lurid 
passage  of  the  Book  of  the  Law  upon  which  it  appears 
to  be  founded  (Deut.  xxviii.  21-26).  The  time  for  the 
accomplishment  of  those  terrible  threatenings  "  is  nigh, 
even  at  the  doors."  On  the  other  hand,  Ezekiel's 
"four  sore  judgments  "  (Ezek.  xiv.  21)  were  suggested 
by  this  passage  of  Jeremiah. 

The  prophet  avoids  naming  the  actual  destination  of 
the  captive  people,  because  captivity  is  only  one  element 
in  their  punishment.  The  horrors  of  war — sieges  and 
slaughters  and  pestilence  and  famine — must  come  first. 
In  what  follows,  the  intensity  of  these  horrors  is  realized 
in  a  single  touch.  The  slain  are  left  unburied,  a  prey 
to  the  birds  and  beasts.  The  elaborate  care  of  the 
ancients  in  the  provision  of  honourable  restingplaces  for 
the  dead  is  a  measure  of  the  extremity  thus  indicated. 
In  accordance  with  the  feeling  of  his  age,  the  prophet 
ranks  the  dogs  and  vultures  and  hyenas  that  drag  and 
disfigure  and  devour  the  corpses  of  the  slain,  as  three 
"  kinds  "  of  evil  equally  appalling  with  the  sword  that 
slays.    The  same  feeling  led  our  Spenser  to  write : 

"  To  spoil  the  dead  of  weed 
Is  sacrilege,  and  doth  all  sins  exceed." 

And  the  destruction  of  Moab  is  decreed  by  the 
earher  prophet  Amos,  "  because  he  burned  the  bones  of 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  315 

the  king  of  Edom  into  lime,"  thus  violating  a  law  uni- 
versally recognised  as  binding  upon  the  conscience  of 
nations  (Amos  ii.  i).     Cf.  also  Gen.  xxiii. 

Thus  death  itself  was  not  to  be  a  sufficient  expiation 
for  the  inveterate  guilt  of  the  nation.  Judgment  was 
to  pursue  them  even  after  death.  But  the  prophet's 
vision  does  not  penetrate  beyond  this  present  scene. 
With  the  visible  world,  so  far  as  he  is  aware,  the 
punishment  terminates.  He  gives  no  hint  here,  nor 
elsewhere,  of  any  further  penalties  awaiting  individual 
sinners  in  the  unseen  world.  The  scope  of  his  prophecy 
indeed  is  almost  purely  national,  and  limited  to  the 
present  life.  It  is  one  of  the  recognised  conditions  of 
Old  Testament  religious  thought. 

And  the  ruin  of  the  people  is  the  retribution  reserved 
for  what  Manasseh  did  in  Jerusalem.  To  the  prophet, 
as  to  the  author  of  the  book  of  Kings,  who  wrote 
doubtless  under  the  influence  of  his  words,  the  guilt 
contracted  by  Judah  under  that  wicked  king  was 
unpardonable.  But  it  would  convey  a  false  impression 
if  we  left  the  matter  here ;  for  the  whole  course  of  his 
after-preaching — his  exhortations  and  promises,  as 
well  as  his  threats — prove  that  Jeremiah  did  not 
suppose  that  the  nation  could  not  be  saved  by  genuine 
repentance  and  permanent  amendment.  What  he 
intends  rather  to  affirm  is  that  the  sins  of  the  fathers 
will  be  visited  upon  children,  who  are  partakers  of 
their  sins.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  St.  Matt,  xxiii.  29  sqq.  ; 
a  doctrine  which  is  not  merely  a  theological  opinion, 
but  a  matter  of  historical  observation. 

And  I  will  set  over  them  four  kinds — //  is  an  oracle 
of  lahvah — the  sword  to  slay,  and  the  dogs  to  hale, 
and  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  to 
devour  and  to  destroy.     And  I  will  make  them  a  sport 


3i6  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

for  all  the  realms  of  earth;  on  account  of  Manasseh 
ben  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah,  for  what  he  did  in 
Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem ! — the  mention  of  that  magical  name 
touches  another  chord  in  the  prophet's  soul ;  and 
the  fierce  tones  of  his  oracle  of  doom  change  into  a 
dirge-like  strain  of  pity  without  hope. 

"For  who  will  have  compassion  on  Thee,  O  Jerusalem? 
And  who  will  yield  thee  comfort  ? 
And  who  will  turn  aside  to  ask  of  thy  welfare  ? 
Twas  thou  that  rejectedst  Me  (it  is  lahvah's  word) ; 
Backward  wouldst  thou  wend  : 
So  I  stretched  forth  My  hand  against  thee  and  destroyed 

thee ; 
I  wearied  of  relenting. 

And  I  winnowed  them  with  a  fan  in  the  gates  of  the  land  ; 
I  bereaved,  I  undid  My  people  : 
Yet  they  returned  not  from  their  own  ways. 
His  widows  outnumbered  before  Me  the  sand  of  seas  : 
I  brought  them  against  the  Mother  of  Warriors  a  harrier  at 

high  noon ; 
I  threw  upon  her  suddenly  anguish  and  horrors. 
She  that  had  borne  seven  sons  did  pine  away ; 
She  breathed  out  her  soul. 
Her  sun  did  set,  while  it  yet  was  day ; 
He  blushed  and  paled. 
But  their  remnant  will  I  give  to  the  sword 
Before  their  foes  :  (It  is  lahvah's  word)." 

The  fate  of  Jerusalem  would  strike  the  nations  dumb 
with  horror;  it  would  not  inspire  pity,  for  man  would 
recognise  that  it  was  absolutely  just.  Or  perhaps  the 
thought  rather  is,  In  proving  false  to  Me,  thou  wert 
false  to  thine  only  friend :  Me  thou  hast  estranged 
by  thy  faithlessness ;  and  from  the  envious  rivals,  who 
beset  thee  on  every  side,  thou  canst  expect  nothing  but 
rejoicing  at  thy  downfall  (Ps.  cxxxvi. ;  Lam.  ii.  15-17; 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  317 

Obad.  10  5^^).  The  peculiar  solitariness  of  Israel 
among  the  nations  (Num.  xxiii.  9)  aggravated  the 
anguish  of  her  overthrow. 

In  what  follows,  the  dreadful  past  appears  as  a 
prophecy  of  the  yet  more  terrible  future.  The  poet- 
seer's  pathetic  monody  moralizes  the  lost  battle  of 
Megiddo — that  fatal  day  when  the  sun  of  Judah  set  in 
what  seemed  the  high  day  of  her  prosperity,  and  all 
the  glory  and  the  promise  of  good  king  Josiah  vanished 
like  a  dream  in  sudden  darkness.  Men  might  think — 
doubtless  Jeremiah  thought,  in  the  first  moments  of 
despair,  when  the  news  of  that  overwhelming  disaster 
was  brought  to  Jerusalem,  with  the  corpse  of  the  good 
king,  the  dead  hope  of  the  nation — that  this  crushing 
blow  was  proof  that  lahvah  had  rejected  His  people, 
in  the  exercise  of  a  sovereign  caprice,  and  without 
reference  to  their  own  attitude  towards  Him.  But,  says 
or  chants  the  prophet,  in  solemn  rhythmic  utterance, 

'•  'Twas  thou  that  rejectedst  Me  ; 
Backward  wouldst  thou  wend : 
So  I  stretched  forth  My  hand  against  thee,  and  wrought  thee 

hurt ; 
I  wearied  of  relenting." 

The  cup  of  national  iniquity  was  full,  and  its  baleful 
contents  overflowed  in  a  devastating  flood.  "  In  the 
gates  of  the  land  " — the  point  on  the  north-west  frontier 
where  the  armies  met — lahvah  **  winnowed  His  people 
with  a  fan,"  separating  those  who  were  doomed  to  fall 
from  those  who  were  to  survive,  as  the  winnowing  fan 
separates  the  chaff  from  the  wheat  in  the  threshing- 
floor.  There  He  "  bereaved"  the  nation  of  their  dearest 
hope,  "  the  breath  of  their  nostrils,  the  Lord's  Anointed  " 
(Lam.  iv.  20) ;  there  He  multiplied  their  widows.  And 
after  the  lost  battle  He  brought  the  victor  in  hot  haste 


3i8  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  IE  RE  MI  AH. 

against  the  "Mother"  of  the  fallen  warriors,  the  ill- 
fated  city,  Jerusalem,  to  wreak  vengeance  upon  her  for 
her  ill-timed  opposition.  But,  for  all  this  bitter  fruit  of 
their  evil  doings,  the  people  "turned  not  back  from  their 
own  ways  "  ;  and  therefore  the  strophe  of  lamentation 
closes  with  a  threat  of  utter  extermination:  "Their  rem- 
nant"— the  poor  survival  of  these  fierce  storms — "Their 
remnant  will  I  give  to  the  sword  before  their  foes."  ^ 

If  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  verses  be  not  a 
mere  interpolation  in  this  chapter  (see  xvii.  3,  4), 
their  proper  place  would  seem  to  be  here,  as  continuing 
and  amplifying  the  sentence  upon  the  residue  of  the 
people.  The  text  is  unquestionably  corrupt,  and  must 
be  amended  by  help  of  the  other  passage,  where  it  is 
partially  repeated.    The  twelfth  verse  may  be  read  thus : 

"Thy  wealth  and  thy  treasures  will  I  make  a  prey, 
For  the  sin  of  thine  high  places  in  all  thy  borders."* 

Then  the  fourteenth  verse  follows,  naturally  enough, 
with  an  announcement  of  the  Exile : 

*'  And  I  will  enthral  thee  to  thy  foes 
In  a  land  thou  knowest  not : 
'  For  a  fire  is  kindled  in  Mine  anger, 
That  shall  burn  for  evermore  !  "  * 

*  The  reference  to  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  in  the  words 

"  Her  sun  went  down,  while  it  yet  was  day ; 
He  blushed  and  paled." 

appears  fairly  certain.  Such  an  event  is  said  to  have  occurred  in  that 
part  of  the  world,  Sept.  30,  B.C.  610. 

2  13.  Read  ^TXil  "Thine  high  places"  for  THDl  vb  "without 
price  "  ;  and  transpose  ni<ljn3  (xvii.  3). 

'  14.  Read  TTllDi;;!")  "and  I  will  make  thee  serve"  (xvii.  4)  for 
*Jl°l3rni  "  and  I  will  make  to  pass  through.  .  ." 

The  third  member  is  a  quotation  from  Deut.  xxxii.  22.  In  the 
fourth,  read  D/ir"/T  "for  ever"  (xvii.  4)  instead  of  DDvI^  "upon 
you." 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT,  319 

The  prophet  has  now  fulfilled  his  function  of  judge 
by  pronouncing  upon  his  people  the  extreme  penalty 
of  the  law.  His  strong  perception  of  the  national 
guilt  and  of  the  righteousness  of  God  has  left  him  no 
choice  in  the  matter.  But  how  little  this  duty  of 
condemnation  accorded  with  his  own  individual  feeling 
as  a  man  and  a  citizen  is  clear  from  the  passionate 
outbreak  of  the  succeeding  strophe. 

"Woe's  me,  my  mother,"  he  exclaims,  "that  thou  barest  me, 
A  man  of  strife  and  a  man  of  contention  to  all  the  country  I 
Neither  lender  nor  borrower  have  I  been ; 
Yet  all  of  them  do  curse  me." 

A  desperately  bitter  tone,  evincing  the  anguish 
of  a  man  wounded  to  the  heart  by  the  sense  of  fruit- 
less endeavour  and  unjust  hatred.  He  had  done  his 
utmost  to  save  his  country,  and  his  reward  was  universal 
detestation.  His  innocence  and  integrity  were  requited 
with  the  odium  of  the  pitiless  creditor  who  enslaves 
his  helpless  victim,  and  appropriates  his  all;  or  the 
fraudulent  borrower  who  repays  a  too  ready  confidence 
with  ruin.^ 

The  next  two  verses  answer  this  burst  of  grief  and 
despair : 

"  Said  lahvah.  Thine  oppression  shall  be  for  good ; 
I  will  make  the  foe  thy  suppliant  in  time  of  evil  and  in 

time  of  distress. 
Can  one  break  iron, 
Iron  from  the  north,  and  brass  ? 

In  other  words,  faith  counsels  patience,  and  assures 
the   prophet   that    all   things    work  together  for   good 

*  The  tone  of  all  this  indicates  that  the  prophet  was  no  novice 
in  his  office.  It  does  not  suit  the  time  of  Josiah ;  but  agrees  very 
well  with  the  time  of  confusion  and  popular  dismay  which  followed 


320  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

to  them  that  love  God.  The  wrongs  and  bitter  treat- 
ment which  he  now  endures  will  only  enchance  his 
triumph,  when  the  truth  of  his  testimony  is  at  last 
confirmed  by  events,  and  they  who  now  scoff  at  his 
message,  come  humbly  to  beseech  his  prayers.  The 
closing  lines  refer,  with  grave  irony,  to  that  unflinch- 
ing firmness,  that  inflexible  resolution,  which,  as  a 
messenger  of  God,  he  was  called  upon  to  maintain. 
He  is  reminded  of  what  he  had  undertaken  at  the 
outset  of  his  career,  and  of  the  Divine  Word  which 
made  him  *'  a  pillar  of  iron  and  walls  of  brass  against 
all  the  land"  (i.  1 8).  Is  it  possible  that  the  pillar 
of  iron  can  be  broken,  and  the  walls  of  brass  beaten 
down  by  the  present  assault? 

There  is  a  pause,  and  then  the  prophet  vehemently 
pleads  his  own  cause  with  lahvah.  Smarting  with 
the  sense  of  personal  wrong,  he  urges  that  his  suffer- 
ing is  for  the  Lord's  own  sake;  that  consciousness 
of  the  Divine  calling  has  dominated  his  entire  life, 
ever  since  his  dedication  to  the  prophetic  office;  and 
that  the  honour  of  lahvah  requires  his  vindication 
upon  his  heartless  and  hardened  adversaries. 

"  Thou  knowest,  lahvah ! 
Remember  me,  and  visit  me,  and  avenge  me  on  my  per- 
secutors. 
Take  me  not  away  in  thy  longsuffering  ; 
Regard  my  bearing  of  reproach  for  Thee. 

"  Thy  words  were  found,  and  I  did  eat  them, 
And  it  became  to  me  a  joy  and  mine  heart's  gladness ; 
For    I   was    called    by    Thy    Name,   O   lahvah,   God    of 
Sabaoth ! 

his  death.  That  event  must  have  brought  great  discredit  upon 
Jeremiah  and  upon  all  who  had  been  instrumental  in  the  religious 
changes  of  his  reign. 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT,  321 


"  I  sate  not  in  the  gathering  of  the  mirthful,  nor  rejoiced; 
Because  of  Thine  hand  I  sate  sohtary, 
For  with  indignation  Thou  didst  fill  me. 

"Why  hath  my  pain  become  perpetual, 
And  my  stroke  malignant,  incurable  ? 
Wilt  Thou  indeed  become  to  me  like  a  delusive  stream, 
Like  waters  which  are  not  lasting  ?  " 

The  pregnant  expression,  ''  Thou  knowest,  lahvah  ! " 
does  not  refer  specially  to  anything  that  has  been 
already  said;  but  rather  lays  the  whole  case  before 
God  in  a  single  word.  The  Thou  is  emphatic ;  Thou, 
Who  knowest  all  things,  knowest  my  heinous  wrongs  : 
Thou  knowest  and  seest  it  all,  though  the  whole  world 
beside  be  blind  with  passion  and  self-regard  and  sin 
(Ps.  X.  11-14).  Thou  knowest  how  pressing  is  my 
need ;  therefore  Take  me  not  away  in  Thy  longsuffer- 
ing:  sacrifice  not  the-life  of  Thy  servant  to  the  claims 
of  forbearance  with  his  enemies  and  Thine.  The 
petition  shews  how  great  was  the  peril  in  which 
the  prophet  perceived  himself  to  stand:  he  believes 
that  if  God  delay  to  strike  down  his  adversaries,  that 
longsuffering  will  be  fatal  to  his  own  life. 

The  strength  of  his  case  is  that  he  is  persecuted, 
because  he  is  faithful ;  he  bears  reproach  for  God. 
He  has  not  abused  his  high  calling  for  the  sake  of 
worldly  advantage;  he  has  not  prostituted  the  name 
of  prophet  to  the  vile  ends  of  pleasing  the  people, 
and  satisfying  personal  covetousness.  He  has  not 
feigned  smooth  prophecies,  misleading  his  hearers  with 
flattering  falsehood ;  but  he  has  considered  the 
privilege  of  being  called  a  prophet  of  lahvah  as  in 
itself  an  all-sufficient  reward ;  and  when  the  Divine 
Word  came  to  him,  he  has  eagerly  received,  and  fed 
his  inmost  soul  upon  that  spiritual  aliment,  which  was 

21 


322  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

2X  once  his  sustenance  and  his  deepest  joy.  Other 
joys,  for  the  Lord's  sake,  he  has  abjured.  He  has 
withdrawn  himself  even  from  harmless  mirth,  that  in 
silence  and  sohtude  he  might  listen  intently  to  the 
inward  Voice,  and  reflect  with  indignant  sorrow  upon 
the  revelation  of  his  people's  corruption.  Because 
of  Thine  Hand — under  Thy  influence;  conscious  of 
the  impulse  and  operation  of  Thy  informing  Spirit ; — 
/  sate  solitary;  for  with  indignation  Thou  didst  fill  me. 
The  man  whose  eye  has  caught  a  glimpse  of  eternal 
Truth,  is  apt  to  be  dissatisfied  with  the  shows  of  things ; 
and  the  lighthearted  merriment  of  the  world  rings 
hollow  upon  the  ear  that  listens  for  the  Voice  of  God. 
And  the  revelation  of  sin — the  discovery  of  all 
that  ghastly  evil  which  lurks  beneath  the  surface 
of  smooth  society — the  appalling  vision  of  the  grim 
skeleton  hiding  its  noisome  decay  behind  the  mask 
of  smiles  and  gaiety;  the  perception  of  the  hideous 
incongruity  of  revelling  over  a  grave ;  has  driven 
others,  besides  Jeremiah,  to  retire  into  themselves,  and 
to  avoid  a  world  from  whose  evil  they  revolted,  and 
whose  foreseen  destruction  they  deplored. 

The  whole  passage  is  an  assertion  of  the  prophet's 
integrity  and  consistency,  with  which,  it  is  suggested, 
that  the  failure  which  has  attended  his  efforts,  and  the 
serious  peril  in  which  he  stands,  are  morally  inconsistent, 
and  paradoxical  in  view  of  the  Divine  disposal  of  events. 
Here,  in  fact,  as  elsewhere,  Jeremiah  has  freely  opened 
his  heart,  and  allowed  us  to  see  the  whole  process  of 
his  spiritual  conflict  in  the  agony  of  his  moments  of 
doubt  and  despair.  It  is  an  argument  of  his  own 
perfect  sincerity ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  it  enables  us 
to  assimilate  the  lesson  of  his  experience,  and  to  profit 
by  the  heavenly  guidance  he  received,  far  more  effec- 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  323 

tually,  than  if  he  had  left  us  ignorant  of  the  painful 
struggles  at  the  cost  of  which  that  guidance  was  won. 

The  seeming  injustice  or  indifference  of  Providence 
is  a  problem  which  recurs  to  thoughtful  minds  in  all 
generations  of  men. 

"  O,  goddes  cruel,  that  gov6rne 
This  world  with  byndyng  of  youre  word  eterne  •  •  • 
What  governance  is  in  youre  prescience 
That  gilteles  tormenteth  innocence?  .... 
Alas  !  I  see  a  serpent  or  a  theif, 
That  many  a  trewe  man  hath  doon  mescheil, 
Gon  at  his  large,  and  wher  him  luste  may  turne ; 
But  I  moste  be  in  prisoun." 

That  such  apparent  anomalies  are  but  a  passing  trial, 
from  which  persistent  faith  will  emerge  victorious  in 
the  present  life,  is  the  general  answer  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment to  the  doubts  which  they  suggest.  The  only 
sufficient  explanation  was  reserved,  to  be  revealed  by 
Him,  who,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  *'  brought  life  and 
immortality  to  light." 

The  thought  which  restored  the  failing  confidence 
and  courage  of  Jeremiah  was  the  reflexion  that  such 
complaints  were  unworthy  of  one  called  to  be  a  spokes- 
man for  the  Highest;  that  the  supposition  of  the 
possibility  of  the  Fountain  of  Living  Waters  failing 
like  a  winter  torrent,  that  runs  dry  in  the  summer 
heats,  was  an  act  of  unfaithfulness  that  merited  reproof; 
and  that  the  true  God  could  not  fail  to  protect  His 
messenger,  and  to  secure  the  triumph  of  truth  in  the 
end. 

"  To  this  lahvah  said  thus  : 
If  thou  come  again, 

I  will  make  thee  again  to  stand  before  Me ; 
And  if  thou  utter  that  is  precious  rather  than  that  is  vile, 
As  My  mouth  shalt  thou  become : 


324  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

They  shall  return  unto  thee, 

But  Thou  shalt  not  return  unto  them. 

"And  I  will  make, thee  to  this  people  an  embattled  wall  of 
brass ; 
And  they  shall  fight  against  thee,  but  not  overcome  thee, 
For  I  will  be  with  thee  to  help  thee  and  to  save  thee ; 
It  is  lahvah's  word. 

And  I  will  save  thee  out  of  the  grasp  of  the  wicked, 
And  will  ransom  thee  out  of  the  hand  of  the  terrible." 

In  the  former  strophe,  the  inspired  poet  set  forth  the 
claims  of  the  psychic  man,  and  poured  out  his  heart 
before  God.  Now  he  recognises  a  Word  of  God  in  the 
protest  of  his  better  feeling.  He  sees  that  where  he 
remains  true  to  himself,  he  will  also  stand  near  to  his 
God.  Hence  springs  the  hope,  which  he  cannot 
renounce,  that  God  will  protect  His  accepted  servant 
in  the  execution  of  the  Divine  commands.  Thus  the 
discords  are  resolved ;  and  the  prophet's  spirit  attains 
to  peace,  after  struggling  through  the  storm. 

It  was  an  outcome  of  earnest  prayer,  of  an  unreserved 
exposure  of  his  inmost  heart  before  God.  What  a 
marvel  it  is — that  instinct  of  prayer !  To  think  that  a 
being  whose  visible  life  has  its  beginning  and  its  end, 
a  being  who  manifestly  shares  possession  of  this  earth 
with  the  brute  creation,  and  breathes  the  same  air,  and 
partakes  of  the  same  elements  with  them  for  the  sus- 
tenance of  his  body ;  who  is  organized  upon  the  same 
general  plan  as  they,  has  the  same  principal  members 
discharging  the  same  essential  functions  in  the  economy 
of  his  bodily  system ;  a  being  who  is  born  and  eats 
and  drinks  and  sleeps  and  dies  like  all  other  animals ; 
— that  this  being  and  this  being  only  of  all  the  multi- 
tudinous kinds  of  animated  creatures,  should  have  and 
exercise  a  faculty  of  looking  off  and  above  the  visible 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT  325 

which  appears  to  be  the  sole  realm  of  actual  existence, 
and  of  holding  communion  with  the  Unseen  I  That, 
following  what  seems  to  be  an  original  impulse  of  his 
nature,  he  should  stand  in  greater  awe  of  this  Invisible 
than  of  any  power  that  is  palpable  to  sense;  should 
seek  to  win  its  favour,  crave  its  help  in  times  of  pain 
and  conflict  and  peril ;  should  professedly  live,  not 
according  to  the  bent  of  common  nature  and  the  appe- 
tites inseparable  from  his  bodily  structure,  but  according 
to  the  will  and  guidance  of  that  Unseen  Power  I  Surely 
there  is  here  a  consummate  marvel.  And  the  wonder 
of  it  does  not  diminish,  when  it  is  remembered  that  this 
instinct  of  turning  to  an  unseen  Guide  and  Arbiter  of 
events,  is  not  peculiar  to  any  particular  section  of  the 
human  race.  Wide  and  manifold  as  are  the  differences 
which  characterize  and  divide  the  families  of  man,  all 
races  possess  in  common  the  apprehension  of  the 
Unseen  and  the  instinct  of  prayer.  The  oldest  records 
of  humanity  bear  witness  to  its  primitive  activity,  and 
whatever  is  known  of  human  history  combines  with 
what  is  known  of  the  character  and  workings  of  the 
human  mind  to  teach  us  that  as  prayer  has  never  been 
unknown,  so  it  is  never  likely  to  become  obsolete. 

May  we  not  recognise  in  this  great  fact  of  human 
nature  a  sure  index  of  a  great  corresponding  truth  ? 
Can  we  avoid  taking  it  as  a  clear  token  of  the  reality 
of  revelation ;  as  a  kind  of  immediate  and  spontaneous 
evidence  on  the  part  of  nature  that  there  is  and  always 
has  been  in  this  lower  world  some  positive  knowledge 
of  that  which  far  transcends  it,  some  real  apprehension 
of  the  mystery  that  enfolds  the  universe?  a  know- 
ledge and  an  apprehension  which,  however  imperfect 
and  fragmentary,  however  fitful  and  fluctuating,  how- 
ever blurred  in  outline  and  lost  in  infinite  shadow,  is 


326  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

yet  incomparably  more  and  better  than  none  at  all. 
Are  we  not,  in  short,  morally  driven  upon  the  convic- 
tion that  this  powerful  instinct  of  our  nature  is  neither 
blind  nor  aimless  ;  that  its  Object  is  a  true,  substantive 
Being;  and  that  this  Being  has  discovered,  and  yet 
discovers,  some  precious  glimpses  of  Himselt  and  His 
essential  character  to  the  spirit  of  mortal  man?  It 
must  be  so,  unless  we  admit  that  the  soul's  dearest 
desires  are  a  mocking  illusion,  that  her  aspirations 
towards  a  truth  and  a  goodness  of  superhuman  per- 
fection are  moonshine  and  madness.  It  cannot  be 
nothingness  that  avails  to  evoke  the  deepest  and  purest 
emotions  of  our  nature ;  not  mere  vacuity  and  chaos, 
wearing  the  semblance  of  an  azure  heaven.  It  is  not 
into  a  measureless  waste  of  outer  darkness  that  we 
reach  forth  trembling  hands. 

Surely  the  spirit  of  denial  is  the  spirit  that  fell  from 
heaven,  and  the  best  and  highest  of  man's  thoughts 
aim  at  and  affirm  something  positive,  something  that 
IS,  and  the  soul  thirsts  after  God,  the  Living  God. 

We  hear  much  in  these  days  of  our  physical  nature. 
The  microscopic  investigations  of  science  leave  nothing 
unexamined,  nothing  unexplored,  so  far  as  the  visible 
organism  is  concerned.  Rays  from  many  distinct 
sources  converge  to  throw  an  ever-increasing  light 
upon  the  mysteries  of  our  bodily  constitution.  In  all 
this,  science  presents  to  the  devout  mind  a  valuable 
subsidiary  revelation  of  the  power  and  goodness  of  the 
Creator.  But  science  cannot  advance  alone  one  step 
beyond  the  things  of  time  and  sense ;  her  facts  belong 
exclusively  to  the  material  order  of  existence;  her 
cognition  is  limited  to  the  various  modes  and  conditions 
of  force  that  constitute  the  realm  of  sight  and  touch ; 
she  cannot  climb   above    these   to  a  higher   plane  of 


.]  THE  DROUGHT, 


3*7 


being.     And  small  blame  it  is  to  science,  that  she  thus 
lacks  the  power  of  overstepping  her  natural  boundaries. 
The  evil  begins  when  the  men  of  science  venture,  in 
her  much-abused  name,   to  ignore  and  deny  realities 
not   amenable   to   scientific    tests,    and   immeasurably 
transcending  all  merely  physical  standards  and  methods. 
Neither  the   natural  history  nor  the   physiology  of 
man,  nor  both  together,  are  competent  to  give  a  com- 
plete account  of  his  marvellous  and  many-sided  being. 
Yet  some  thinkers  appear  to  imagine  that  when  a  place 
has  been  assigned  him  in  the  animal  kingdom,  and  his 
close  relationship  to  forms  below  him  in  the  scale  of 
life  has    been   demonstrated ;    when   every  tissue  and 
structure  has  been  analysed,  and  every  organ  described 
and  its  function  ascertained  ;  then   the  last  word  has 
been  spoken,  and  the  subject  exhausted.    Those  unique 
and  distinguishing  faculties  by  which  all  this  amazing 
work  of  observation,  comparison,  reasoning,  has  been 
accomplished,  appear  either  to  be  left  out  of  the  account 
altogether,  or  to  be  handled  with  a  meagre  inadequacy 
of  treatment   that  contrasts   in   the  strongest  manner 
with  the  fulness  and  the  elaboration  which  mark   the 
other  discussion.     And  the  more  this  physical  aspect  of 
Dur  composite  nature  is  emphasized  ;  the  more  urgently 
it  is  insisted  that,  somehow  or  other,  all  that  is  in  man 
and  all  that  comes  of  man  may  be  explained   on  the 
assumption  that  he  is  the  natural  climax  of  the  animal 
creation,  a  kind  of  educated  and  glorified  brute — that 
and  nothing  more ; — the  harder  it  becomes  to  give  any 
rational  account  of  those  facts  of  his  nature  which  are 
commonly  recognised  as  spiritual,  and  among  them  of 
this  instinct  of  prayer  and  its  Object. 

Under  these   discouraging   circumstances,    men   are 
fatally  prone  to  seek  escape  from  their  self-involved 


328  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

dilemma,  by  a  hardy  denial  of  what  their  methods 
have  failed  to  discover  and  their  favourite  theories  to 
explain.  The  soul  and  God  are  treated  as  mere  meta- 
physical expressions,  or  as  popular  designations  of  the 
unknown  causes  of  phenomena  ;  and  prayer  is  declared 
to  be  an  act  of  foolish  superstition  which  persons  of 
culture  have  long  since  outgrown.  Sad  and  strange 
this  result  is  ;  but  it  is  also  the  natural  outcome  of  an 
initial  error,  which  is  none  the  less  real  because  unper- 
ceived.  Men  ''seek  the  living  among  the  dead";  they 
expect  to  find  the  soul  by  post  mortem  examination,  or 
to  see  God  by  help  of  an  improved  telescope.  They 
fail  and  are  disappointed,  though  they  have  little  right 
to  be  so,  for  "  spiritual  things  are  discerned  spiritually," 
and  not  otherwise. 

In  speculating  on  the  reasons  of  this  lamentable  issue, 
we  must  not  forget  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  an 
unpurified  intellect  as  well  as  a  corrupt  and  unregenerate 
heart.  Sin  is  not  restricted  to  the  affections  of  the 
lower  nature ;  it  has  also  invaded  the  realm  of  thought 
and  reason.  The  very  pursuit  of  knowledge,  noble 
and  elevating  as  it  is  commonly  esteemed,  is  not  with- 
out its  dangers  of  self-delusion  and  sin.  Wherever 
the  love  of  self  is  paramount,  wherever  the  object  really 
sought  is  the  delight,  the  satisfaction,  the  indulgence  of 
self,  no  matter  in  which  of  the  many  departments  of 
human  Hfe  and  action,  there  is  sin.  It  is  certain  that 
the  intellectual  consciousness  has  its  own  peculiar 
pleasures,  and  those  of  the  keenest  and  most  trans- 
porting character ;  certain  that  the  incessant  pursuit  of 
such  pleasures  may  come  to  absorb  the  entire  energies 
of  a  man,  so  that  no  room  is  left  for  the  culture  of 
humility  or  love  or  worship.  Everything  is  sacrificed 
to  what  is  called  the  pursuit  of  truth,  but  is  in  sober 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT. 


329 


fact  a  passionate  prosecution  of  private  pleasure.  It  is 
not  truth  that  is  so  highly  valued ;  it  is  the  keen  excite- 
ment of  the  race,  and  not  seldom  the  plaudits  of  the 
spectators  when  the  goal  is  won.  Such  a  career  may 
be  as  thoroughly  selfish  and  sinful  and  alienated  from 
God  as  a  career  of  common  wickedness.  And  thus 
employed  or  enthralled,  no  intellectual  gifts,  however 
splendid,  can  bring  a  man  to  the  discernment  of 
spiritual  truth.  Not  self-pleasing  and  foolish  vanity 
and  arrogant  self-assertion,  but  a  self-renouncing 
humility,  an  inward  purity  from  idols  01  every  kind,  a 
reverence  of  truth  as  divine,  are  indispensable  con- 
ditions of  the  perception  of  things  spiritual. 

The  representation  which  is  often  given  is  a  mere 
travesty.  BeHevers  in  God  do  not  want  to  alter  His 
laws  by  their  prayers — neither  His  laws  physical,  nor 
His  laws  moral  and  spiritual.  It  is  their  chief  desire 
to  be  brought  into  submission  or  perfect  obedience  to 
the  sum  of  His  laws.  They  ask  their  Father  in  heaven 
to  lead  and  teach  them,  to  supply  their  wants  in  His 
own  way,  because  He  is  their  Father ;  because  "  It  is 
He  that  made  us,  and  His  we  are."  Surely,  a  reason- 
able request,  and  grounded  in  reason. 

To  a  plain  man,  seeking  for  arguments  to  justify 
prayer  may  well  seem  like  seeking  a  justification  of 
breathing,  or  eating  and  drinking  and  sleeping,  or  any 
other  natural  function.  Our  Lord  never  does  anything 
of  the  kind,  because  His  teaching  takes  for  granted  the 
ultimate  prevalence  of  common  sense,  in  spite  of  all  the 
subtleties  and  airspun  perplexities,  in  which  a  specula- 
tive mind  delights  to  lose  itself.  So  long  as  man  has 
other  wants  than  those  which  he  can  himself  supply, 
prayer  will  be  their  natural  expression. 

If  there  be  a  spiritual  as  distinct  from  a  material  world, 


33©  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

the  difficulty  to  the  ordinary  mind  is  not  to  conceive 
of  their  contact  but  of  their  absolute  isolation  from  each 
other.  This  is  surely  the  inevitable  result  of  our  own 
individual  experience,  of  the  intimate  though  not  indis- 
soluble union  of  body  and  spirit  in  every  living  person. 

How,  it  may  be  asked,  can  we  really  think  of  his 
Maker  being  cut  off  from  man,  or  man  from  his  Maker? 
God  were  not  God,  if  He  left  man  to  himself  But  not 
only  are  His  wisdom,  justice  and  love  manifested  forth 
in  the  beneficent  arrangements  of  the  world  in  which 
we  find  ourselves  ;  not  only  is  He  "  kind  to  the  unjust 
and  the  unthankful."  In  pain  and  loss  He  quickens 
our  sense  of  Himself  (cf.  xiv.  19-22).  Even  in  the 
first  moments  of  angry  surprise  and  revolt,  that  sense 
is  quickened ;  we  rebel,  not  against  an  inanimate  world 
or  an  impersonal  law,  but  against  a  Living  and  Personal 
Being,  whom  we  acknowledge  as  the  Arbiter  of  our 
destinies,  and  whose  wisdom  and  love  and  power  we 
affect  for  the  time  to  question,  but  cannot  really 
gainsay.  The  whole  of  our  experience  tends  to  this 
end — to  the  continual  rousing  of  our  spiritual  con- 
sciousness. There  is  no  interference,  no  isolated  and 
capricious  interposition  or  interruption  of  order  within 
or  without  us.  Within  and  without  us,  His  Will  is 
always  energizing,  always  manifesting  forth  His  Being, 
encouraging  our  confidence,  demanding  our  obedience 
and  homage. 

Thus  prayer  has  its  Divine  as  w^ell  as  its  human  side ; 
it  is  the  Holy  Spirit  drawing  the  soul,  as  well  as  the 
soul  drawing  nigh  unto  God.  The  case  is  like  the 
action  and  reaction  of  the  magnet  and  the  steel.  And 
so  prayer  is  not  a  foolish  act  of  unauthorised  pre- 
sumption, not  a  rash  effort  to  approach  unapproachable 
and  absolutely  isolated  Majesty.     Whenever  man  truly 


"V.  XV.]  THE  DROUGHT, 


331 


prays,  his  Divine  King  has  already  extended  the  sceptre 
of  His  mercy,  and  bidden  him  speak. 

xvi.-xvii.      After  the   renewal  of  the  promise  there 
is  a  natural  pause,  marked  by  the  formula  with  which 
the   present   section    opens.     When  the  prophet   had 
recovered    his    firmness,    through    the    inspired    and 
inspiring  reflexions  which  took  possession  of  his  soul 
after  he  had   laid   bare  his   inmost  heart  before  God 
(xv.  20,  21),  he  was  in  a  position  to  receive  further 
guidance  from  above.     What  now  lies  before  us  is  the 
direction,  which  came  to  him  as  certainly  Divine,  for 
the  regulation  of  his  own  future  behaviour  as  the  chosen 
minister  of  lahvah  at  this  crisis  in  the  history  of  his 
people.     •'  And  there  fell  a  word  of  lahvah  unto  me, 
saying :  Thou  shalt  not  take  thee  a  wife ;  that  thou  get 
not^  sons  and  daughters  in   this  place."     Such  a  pro- 
hibition reveals,  with  the  utmost  possible  clearness  and 
emphasis,  the   gravity   of  the   existing   situation.      It 
implies  that  the   "peace  and    permanence,"  so   glibly 
predicted  by  Jeremiah's  opponents,  will  never  more  be 
known   by  that  sinful  generation.     "This  place,"  the 
holy  place  which  lahvah  had  "chosen,  to  estabhsh  His 
name  there,"  as  the  Book  of  the  Law  so  often  describes 
it ;  "  this  place,"  which  had  been  inviolable  to  the  fierce 
hosts  of  the  Assyrian  in  the  time  of  Isaiah  (Isa.  xxxvii. 
33),  was  now  no  more  a  sure  refuge,  but  doomed  to 
utter   and    speedy    destruction.       To    beget   sons   and 
daughters  there  was  to  prepare   more  victims  for  the 
tooth  of  famine,  and  the  pangs  of  pestilence,  and  the 
devouring  sword  of  a  merciless  conqueror.     It  was  to 
fatten  the  soil  with  unburied  carcases,  and  to  spread  a 
hideous  banquet  for  birds  and  beasts  of  prey.    Children 
and    parents    were    doomed    to    perish   together;    and 
lahvah's  witness  was  to  keep  himself  unencumbered  by 


33*  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

the  sweet  cares  of  husband  and  father,  that  he  might  be 
wholly  free  for  his  solemn  duties  of  menace  and  warn- 
ing, and  be  ready  for  every  emergency. 

"  For  thus  hath  lahvah  said : 
Concerning  the  sons  and  concerning  the  daughters  that  are 

born  in  this  place, 
And  concerning  their  mothers  that  bear  them, 
And  concerning  their  fathers  that  beget  them,  in  this  land: 
By  deaths  of  agony  shall  they  die  ; 
They  shall  not  be  mourned  nor  buried ; 
For  dung  on  the  face  of  the  ground  shall  they  serve; 
And  by  the  sword  and  by  the  famine  shall  they  be  fordone : 
And  their  carcase  shall  serve  for  food 

To  the  fowls  of  the  air  and  to  the  beasts  of  the  earth " 
(xvi.  3-4). 

The  "deaths  of  agony"  seem  to  indicate  the  pes- 
tilence, which  always  ensued  upon  the  scarcity  and  vile 
quality  of  food,  and  the  confinement  of  multitudes 
within  the  narrow  bounds  of  a  besieged  city  (see 
Josephus'  well-known  account  of  the  last  siege  of 
Jerusalem). 

The  attitude  of  solitary  watchfulness  and  strict 
separation,  which  the  prophet  thus  perceived  to  be 
required  by  circumstances,  was  calculated  to  be  a 
warning  of  the  utmost  significance,  among  a  people 
who  attached  the  highest  importance  to  marriage,  and 
the  permanence  of  the  family. 

It  proclaimed  more  loudly  than  words  could  do,  the 
prophet's  absolute  conviction  that  offspring  was  no 
pledge  of  permanence ;  that  universal  death  was  hanging 
over  a  condemned  nation.  But  not  only  this.  It  marks 
a  point  of  progress  in  the  prophet's  spiritual  life.  The 
crisis,  through  which  we  have  seen  him  pass,  has  purged 
his  mental  vision.  He  no  longer  repines  at  his  dark 
lot ;  no  longer  half  envies  the  false  prophets,  who  may 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  333 

win  the  popular  love  by  pleasing  oracles  of  peace  and 
well-being ;  no  longer  complains  of  the  Divine  Will, 
which  has  laid  such  a  burden  upon  him.  He  sees  now 
that  his  part  is  to  refuse  even  natural  and  innocent 
pleasures  for  the  Lord's  sake ;  to  foresee  calamity  and 
ruin ;  to  denounce  unceasingly  the  sin  he  sees  around 
him ;  to  sacrifice  a  tender  and  affectionate  heart  to  a 
life  of  rigid  asceticism ;  and  he  manfully  accepts  his 
part.  He  knows  that  he  stands  alone — the  last  fortress 
of  truth  in  a  world  of  falsehood ;  and  that  for  truth 
it  becomes  a  man  to  surrender  his  all. 

That  which  follows  tends  to  complete  the  prophet's 
social  isolation.  He  is  to  give  no  sign  of  sympathy  in 
the  common  joys  and  sorrows  of  his  kind. 

"  For  thus  hath  lahvah  said  : 
Enter  thou  not  into  the  house  of  mourning, 
Nor  go  to  lament,  nor  comfort  thou  them : 
For  I  have  taken  away  My  friendship  from  this  people  ('Tis 

lahvah 's  utterance  1 ) 
The  lovingkindness  and  the  compassion ; 
And  old  and  young  shall  die  in  this  land, 
They  shall  not  be  buried,  and  men  shall  not  wail  for  them ; 
Nor  shall  a  man  cut  himself,  nor  make  himself  bald,  for  them  : 
Neither  shall  men  deal  out  bread  to  them  in  mourning, 
To  comfort  a  man  over  the  dead ; 

Nor  shall  they  give  them  to  drink  the  cup  of  consolation, 
Over  a  man's  father  and  over  his  mother. 

"  And  the  house  of  feasting  thou  shalt  not  enter, 
To  sit  with  them  to  eat  and  to  drink. 
For  thus  hath  lahvah  Sabaoth,  the  God  of  Israel,  said: 
Lo,  I  am  about  to  make  to  cease  from  this  place, 
Before  your  own  eyes  and  in  your  own  days. 
Voice  of  mirth  and  voice  of  gladness, 
The  voice  of  the  bridegroom  and  the  voice  of  the  bride." 

Acting  as  prophet,  that  is,  as  one  whose  public 
actions  were  symbolical  of  a  Divine  intent,  Jeremiah  is 


334  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

henceforth  to  stand  aloof,  on  occasions  when  natural 
feeling  would  suggest  participation  in  the  outward  life 
of  his  friends  and  acquaintance.  He  is  to  quell  the 
inward  stirrings  of  affection  and  sympathy,  and  to  abstain 
from  playing  his  part  in  those  demonstrative  lamen- 
tations over  the  dead,  which  the  immemorial  custom 
and  sentiment  of  his  country  regarded  as  obligatory ; 
and  this,  in  order  to  signify  unmistakably  that  what 
thus  appeared  to  be  the  state  of  his  own  feelings,  was 
really  the  aspect  under  which  God  would  shortly  appear 
to  a  nation  perishing  in  its  guilt.  ^'  Enter  not  into  the 
house  of  mourning  .  .  .  for  I  have  taken  away  My 
friendship  from  this  people,  the  lovingkindness  and  the 
compassion."  An  estranged  and  alienated  God  would 
view  the  coming  catastrophe  with  the  cold  indifference 
of  exact  justice.  And  the  consequence  of  the  Divine 
aversion  would  be  a  calamity  so  overwhelming,  that 
the  dead  would  be  left  without  those  rites  of  burial, 
which  the  feeling  and  conscience  of  all  races  of  man- 
kind have  always  been  careful  to  perform.  There 
should  be  no  burial,  much  less  ceremonial  lamentation, 
and  those  more  serious  modes  of  evincing  grief  by 
disfigurement  of  the  person,^  which,  like  tearing  the 
hair  and  rending  the  garments,  are  natural  tokens  of 
the  first  distraction  of  bereavement.  Not  for  wife  or 
child  (np:  see  Gen.  xxiii.  3),  nor  for  father  or  mother 
should  the  funeral  feast  be  held  ;  for  men's  hearts  would 
grow  hard  at  the  daily  spectacle  of  death,  and  at  last 
there  would  be  no  survivors. 

In  like  manner,  the  prophet  is  forbidden  to  enter  as 


*  Practices  forbidden,  Lev.  xxi.  5  ;  Deut.  xiv,  I.  Jeremiah  mentions 
them  as  ordinary  signs  of  mourning,  and  doubtless  they  were  general 
in  his  time.  An  ancient  usage,  having  its  root  in  na«^ural  feeling,  is 
not  easily  extirpated. 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  335 

guest  "  the  house  of  feasting."  He  is  not  to  be  seen  at 
the  marriage-feast, — that  occasion  of  highest  rejoicing, 
the  very  type  and  example  of  innocent  and  holy  mirth ; 
to  testify  by  his  abstention  that  the  day  of  judgment 
was  swiftly  approaching,  which  would  desolate  all 
homes,  and  silence  for  evermore  all  sounds  of  joy  and 
gladness  in  the  ruined  city.  And  it  is  expressly  added 
that  the  blow  will  fall  "  before  your  own  eyes  and  in 
your  own  days  ;  "  shewing  that  the  hour  of  doom  was 
very  near,  and  would  no  more  be  delayed. 

In  all  this,  it  is  noticeable  that  the  Divine  answer 
appears  to  bear  special  reference  to  the  peculiar  terms 
of  the  prophet's  complaint.  In  despairing  tones  he  had 
cried  (xv.  lo),  "  Woe's  me,  my  mother,  that  thou  didst 
bear  me  ! "  and  now  he  is  himself  warned  not  to  take 
a  wife,  and  seek  the  blessing  of  children.  The  outward 
connexion  here  may  be :  *'  Let  it  not  be  that  thy 
children  speak  of  thee,  as  thou  hast  spoken  of  thy 
mother  ! "  ^  But  the  inner  link  of  thought  may  rather 
be  this,  that  the  prophet's  temporary  unfaithfulness 
evinced  in  his  outcry  against  God  and  his  lament  that 
ever  he  was  born  is  punished  by  the  denial  to  him 
of  the  joys  of  fatherhood — a  penalty  which  would  be 
severe  to  a  loving,  yearning  nature  like  his,  but  which 
was  doubtless  necessary  to  the  purification  of  his  spirit 
from  all  worldly  taint,  and  to  the  discipline  of  his 
natural  impatience  and  tendency  to  repine  under  the 
hand  of  God.  His  punishment,  like  that  of  Moses, 
may  appear  disproportionate  to  his  offence ;  but  God's 
dealings  with  man  are  not  regulated  by  any  mechanical 
calculation  of  less  and  more,  but  by  His  perfect  know- 
ledge of  the  needs  of  the  case ;  and  it  is  often  in  truest 
mercy  that  His  hand  strikes  hard.     "As  gold  in  the 

'  Naegelsbach. 


336  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

furnace   doth    He   try  them " ;   and  the  purest  metal 
comes  out  of  the  hottest  fire. 

Further,  it  is  not  the  least  prominent  but  the  leading 
part  of  a  man's  nature  that  most  requires  this  heavenly 
discipline,  if  the  best  is  to  be  made  of  it  that  can  be 
made.  The  strongest  element,  that  which  is  most 
characteristic  of  the  person,  that  which  constitutes  his 
individuality,  is  the  chosen  field  of  Divine  influence 
and  operation ;  for  here  lies  the  greatest  need.  In 
Jeremiah  this  master  element  was  an  almost  feminine 
tenderness ;  a  warmly  affectionate  disposition,  craving 
the  love  and  sympathy  of  his  fellows,  and  recoiling 
almost  in  agony  from  the  spectacle  of  pain  and  suffer- 
ing. And  therefore  it  was  that  the  Divine  discipline 
was  specially  apphed  to  this  element  in  the  prophet's 
personality.  In  him,  as  in  all  other  men,  the  good 
was  mingled  with  evil,  which,  if  not  purged  away, 
might  spread  until  it  spoiled  his  whole  nature.  It  is 
not  virtue  to  indulge  our  own  bent,  merely  because 
it  pleases  us  to  do  so ;  nor  is  the  exercise  of  affection 
any  great  matter  to  an  affectionate  nature.  The  involved 
strain  of  selfishness  must  be  separated,  if  any  naturally 
good  gift  is  to  be  elevated  to  moral  worth,  to  become 
acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God.  And  so  it  was  pre- 
cisely here,  in  his  most  susceptible  point,  that  the 
sword  of  trial  pierced  the  prophet  through.  He  was 
saved  from  all  hazard  of  becoming  satisfied  with  the 
love  of  wife  and  children,  and  forgetting  in  that  earthly 
satisfaction  the  love  of  his  God.  He  was  saved  from 
absorption  in  the  pleasures  of  friendly  intercourse  with 
neighbours,  from  passing  his  days  in  an  agreeable 
round  of  social  amenities  ;  at  a  time  when  ruin  was 
impending  over  his  country,  and  well  nigh  ready  to  fall. 
And  the  means  which  God  chose  for  the  accomplish- 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  337 

ment  of  this  result  were  precisely  those  of  which  the 
prophet  had  complained  (xv.  17)  ;  his  social  isolation, 
which  though  in  part  a  matter  of  choice,  was  partly 
forced  upon  him  by  the  irritation  and  ill-will  of  his 
acquaintance.  It  is  now  declared  that  this  trial  is  to 
continue.  The  Lord  does  not  necessarily  remove  a 
trouble,  when  entreated  to  do  it.  He  manifests  His 
love  by  giving  strength  to  bear  it,  until  the  work  of 
chastening  be  perfected. 

An  interruption  is  now  supposed,  such  as  may  often 
have  occurred  in  the  course  of  Jeremiah's  public  utter- 
ances. The  audience  demands  to  know  why  all  this 
evil  is  ordained  to  fall  upon  them.  What  is  our  guilt 
and  what  our  trespass y  that  we  have  trespassed  against 
lahvah  our  God?  The  answer  is  a  twofold  accusation. 
Their  fathers  were  faithless  to  lahvah,  and  they  have 
outdone  their  fathers'  sin ;  and  the  penalty  will  be 
expulsion  and  a  foreign  servitude. 

*'  Because  your  fathers  forsook  Me  (It  is  lahvah's  word !) 
And  went  after  other  gods,  and  served  them,  and  bowed 

down  to  them, 
And  Me  they  forsook,  and  My  teaching  they  observed  not: 
And  ye  yourselves  (or,  as  for  you)  have  done  worse  than 

your  fathers ; 
And  lo,  ye  walk  each  after  the  stubbornness  of  his  evil  heart, 
So  as  not  to  hearken  unto  Me. 
Therefore  will  I  hurl  you  from  off  this  land, 
On  to  the  land  that  ye  and  your  fathers  knew  not ; 
And  ye  may  serve  there  other  gods,  day  and  night, 
Since  I  will  not  grant  you  grace." 

The  damning  sin  laid  to  Israel's  charge  is  idolatry, 
with  all  the  moral  consequences  involved  in  that  prime 
transgression.  That  is  to  say,  the  offence  consisted 
not  barely  in  recognising  and  honouring  the  gods  of 
the  nations  along  with   their  own   God,   though  that 

22 


338  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

were  fault  enough,  as  an  act  of  treason  against  the 
sole  majesty  of  Heaven ;  but  it  was  aggravated  enor- 
mously by  the  moral  declension  and  depravity,  which 
accompanied  this  apostasy.  They  and  their  fathers 
forsook  lahvah  "  and  kept  not  His  teaching ;  "  a  reference 
to  the  Book  of  the  Law,  considered  not  only  as  a  collec- 
tion of  ritual  and  ceremonial  precepts  for  the  regulation 
of  external  religion,  but  as  a  guide  of  life  and  conduct. 
And  there  had  been  a  progress  in  evil ;  the  nation  had 
gone  from  bad  to  worse  with  fearful  rapidity  :  so  that 
now  it  could  be  said  of  the  existing  generation  that 
it  paid  no  heed  at  all  to  the  monitions  which  lahvah 
uttered  by  the  mouth  of  His  prophet,  but  walked  simply 
in  stubborn  self-will  and  the  indulgence  of  every  corrupt 
inclination.  And  here  too,  as  in  so  many  other  cases, 
the  sin  is  to  be  its  own  punishment.  The  Book  of 
the  Law  had  declared  that  revolt  from  lahvah  should 
be  punished  by  enforced  service  of  strange  gods  in 
a  strange  land  (Deut.  iv.  28,  xxviii.  36,  64) ;  and 
Jeremiah  repeats  this  threat,  with  the  addition  of  a 
tone  of  ironical  concession :  there,  in  your  bitter  banish- 
ment, you  may  have  your  wish  to  the  full ;  you  may 
serve  the  foreign  gods,  and  that  without  intermission 
(implying  that  the  service  would  be  a  slavery). 

The  whole  theory  of  Divine  punishment  is  implicit 
in  these  few  words  of  the  prophet.  They  who  sin 
persistently  against  light  and  knowledge  are  at  last 
given  over  to  their  own  hearts'  lust,  to  do  as  they 
please,  without  the  gracious  check  of  God's  inward 
voice.  And  then  there  comes  a  strong  delusion,  so 
that  they  believe  a  lie,  and  take  evil  for  good  and  good 
for  evil,  and  hold  themselves  innocent  before  God, 
when  their  guilt  has  reached  its  climax ;  so  that,  like 
Jeremiah's  hearers,  if  their  evil  be  denounced,  they  can 


THE  DROUGHT.  339 


ask  in  astonishment :  *'  What  is  our  iniquity  ?  or  what 
is  our  trespass  ?  " 

They  are  so  ripe  in  sin  that  they  retain  no  knowledge 
of  it  as  sin,  but  hold  it  virtue. 

"  And  they,  so  perfect  is  their  misery, 
Not  once  perceive  their  foul  disfigurement, 
But  boast  themselves  more  comely  than  before." 

And  not  only  do  we  find  in  this  passage  a  striking 
instance  of  judicial  blindness  as  the  penalty  of  sin. 
We  may  see  also  in  the  penalty  predicted  for  the  Jews 
a  plain  analogy  to  the  doctrine  that  the  permanence  of 
the  sinful  state  in  a  life  to  come  is  the  penalty  of  sin 
in  the  present  life.  "He  that  is  unjust,  let  him  be 
unjust  still;  and  he  that  is  filthy,  let  him  be  filthy 
still ! "  and  know  himself  to  be  what  he  is. 

The  prophet's  dark  horizon  is  here  apparently  lit  up 
for  a  moment  by  a  gleam  of  hope.  The  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  verses,  however,  with  their  beautiful  promise 
of  restoration,  really  belong  to  another  oracle,  whose 
prevailing  tones  are  quite  different  from  the  present 
gloomy  forecast  of  retribution  (xxiii.  7  sqq.^.  Here 
they  interrupt  the  sense,  and  make  a  cleavage  in  the 
connexion  of  thought,  which  can  only  be  bridged  over 
artificially,  by  the  suggestion  that  the  import  of  the  two 
verses  is  primarily  not  consolatory  but  minatory  ;  that 
is  to  say,  that  they  threaten  Exile  rather  than  promise 
Return ;  a  mode  of  understanding  the  two  verses  which 
does  manifest  violence  to  the  whole  form  of  expression, 
and,  above  all,  to  their  obvious  force  in  the  original 
passage  from  which  they  have  been  transferred  hither. 
Probably  some  transcriber  of  the  text  wrote  them  in 
the  margin  of  his  copy,  by  way  of  palliating  the  other- 
wise unbroken  gloom  of  this  oracle  of  coming  woe. 
Then,  at  some   later  time,  another  copyist,  supposing 


340  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

the  marginal  note  indicated  an  omission,  incorporated 
the  two  verses  in  his  transcription  of  the  text,  where 
they  have  remained  ever  since.     (See  on  xxiii.  7,  8.) 

After  plainly  announcing  in  the  language  of  Deuter- 
onomy the  expulsion  of  Judah  from  the  land  which 
they  had  desecrated  by  idolatry,  the  prophet  develops 
the  idea  in  his  own  poetic  fashion  ;  representing  the 
punishment  as  universal,  and  insisting  that  it  is  a 
punishment,  and  not  an  unmerited  misfortune. 

"  Lo,  I  am  about  to  send  many  fishers  (It  is  lahvah's  word !) 
And  they  shall  fish  them  ; 
And  afterwards  will  I  send  many  hunters, 
And  they  shall  hunt  them, 
From  off  every  mountain, 
And  from  off  every  hill, 
And  out  of  the  clefts  of  the  rocks." 

Like  silly  fish,  crowding  helplessly  one  over  another 
into  the  net,^  when  the  fated  moment  arrives,  Judah 
will  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  destroyer.  And  '^  after- 
wards," to  ensure  completeness,  those  who  have  sur- 
vived this  first  disaster  will  be  hunted  like  wild  beasts, 
out  of  all  the  dens  and  caves  in  the  mountains,  ^the 
Adullams  and  Engedis,  where  they  have  found  a  refuge 
from  the  invader. 

There  is  clearly  reference  to  two  distinct  visitations 
of  wrath,  the  latter  more  deadly  than  the  former ;  else 
why  the  use  of  the  emphatic  note  of  time  "after- 
wards "  ?  If  we  understand  by  the  "  fishing  "  of  the 
country  the  so-called  first  captivity,  the  carrying  away 
of  the  boy-king  Jehoiachin  and  his  mother  and  his 
nobles  and  ten  thousand  principal  citizens,  by  Nebu- 

'  The  figure  recalls  the  Persian  custom  of  sweeping  off  the  whole 
population  of  an  island,  by  forming  a  line  and  marching  over  it,  a 
process  of  extermination  called  by  the  Greek  writers  cayr)vivHv, 
"fishing  with  a  seine  or  drag-net  "  (Herod,  iii.  149,  iv.  9,  vi.  31). 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT, 


34' 


chadrezzar  to  Babylon  (2  Kings  xxiv.  10  5^^.);  and 
by  the  "  hunting  "  the  final  catastrophe  in  the  time  of 
Zedekiah ;  we  get,  as  we  shall  see,  a  probable  explana- 
tion of  a  difficult  expression  in  the  eighteenth  verse, 
which  cannot  otherwise  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for. 
The  next  words  (ver.  17)  refute  an  assumption, 
implied  in  the  popular  demand  to  know  wherein  the 
guilt  of  the  nation  consists,  that  lahvah  is  not  really 
cognisant  of  their  acts  of  apostasy. 

"  For  Mine  eyes  are  upon  all  their  ways, 
They  are  not  hidden  away  from  before  My  face ; 
Nor  is  their  guilt  kept  secret  from  before  Mine  eyes." 

The  verse  is  thus  an  indirect  reply  to  the  questions 
of  verse  10 ;  questions  which  in  some  mouths  might 
indicate  that  unconsciousness  of  guilt,  which  is  the 
token  of  sin  finished  and  perfected ;  in  others,  the 
presence  of  that  unbelief  which  doubts  whether  God 
can,  or  at  least  whether  He  does  regard  human  conduct. 
But  "  He  that  planted  the  ear,  can  He  not  hear  ?  He 
that  formed  the  eye,  can  He  not  see?"  (Ps.  xciv.  9). 
It  is  really  an  utterly  irrational  thought,  that  sight,  and 
hearing,  and  the  higher  faculties  of  reflexion  and  con- 
sciousness, had  their  origin  in  a  blind  and  deaf,  a 
senseless  and  unconscious  source  such  as  inorganic 
matter,  whether  we  consider  it  in  the  atom  or  in  the 
enormous  mass  of  an  embryo  system  of  stars. 

The  measure  of  the  penalty  is  now  assigned. 

"  And  I  will  repay  first  the  double  of  their  guilt  and  their 
trespass 
For  that  they  profaned  My  land  with  the  carcases  of  their 

loathly  offerings, 
And  their  abominations  filled  Mine  heritage."  * 

'  For  the  construction,  cf.  Gen.  i.  22 ;  Jer.  11.  1 1,     Or  "  With  their 
abominations  they  filled,  etc,"  a  double  accusative. 


342  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

"  I  will  repay  firsV^  The  term  "  first/'  which  has 
occasioned  much  perplexity  to  expositors,  means  *'  the 
first  time  "  (Gen.  xxxviii.  28  ;  Dan.  xi.  29),  and  refers, 
if  I  am  not  mistaken,  to  the  first  great  blow,  the 
captivity  of  Jehoiachin,  of  which  I  spoke  just  now  ;  an 
occasion  which  is  designated  again  (ver.  21),  by  the 
expression  "  this  once  "  or  rather  "  at  this  time."  And 
when  it  is  said  "  I  will  repay  the  double  of  their  guilt 
and  of  their  trespass,"  we  are  to  understand  that  the 
Divine  justice  is  not  satisfied  with  half  measures  ;  the 
punishment  of  sin  is  proportioned  to  the  offence,  and 
the  cup  of  self-entailed  misery  has  to  be  drained  to 
the  dregs.  Even  penitence  does  not  abolish  the 
physical  and  temporal  consequences  of  sin  ;  in  our- 
selves and  in  others  whom  we  have  influenced  they 
continue — a  terrible  and  ineffaceable  record  of  the  past. 
The  ancient  law  required  that  the  man  who  had 
wronged  his  neighbour  by  theft  or  fraud  should  restore 
double  (Ex.  xxii.  4,  7,  9);  and  thus  this  expression 
would  appear  to  denote  that  the  impending  chastise- 
ment would  be  in  strict  accordance  with  the  recognised 
rule  of  law  and  justice,  and  that  Judah  must  repay 
to  the  Lord  in  suffering  the  legal  equivalent  for  her 
offence.  In  a  like  strain,  towards  the  end  of  the  Exile, 
the  great  prophet  of  the  captivity  comforts  Jerusalem 
with  the  announcement  that  ''her  hard  service  is 
accomplished,  her  punishment  is  held  sufficient ;  for 
she  hath  received  of  lahvah's  hand  twofold  for  all  her 
trespasses "  (Isa.  xl.  2).  The  Divine  severity  is,  in 
fact,  truest  mercy.  Only  thus  does  mankind  learn  to 
realize  "the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,"  only  as 
Judah  learned  the  heinousness  of  desecrating  the  Holy 
Land  with  "  loathly  offerings "  to  the  vile  Nature- 
gods,  and  with  the  symbols  in  wood  and  stone  of  the 


xiv.,xv.]  ^  THE  DROUGHT.  343 

cruel  and  obscene  deities  of  Canaan ;  viz.  by  the 
fearful  issue  of  transgression,  the  lesson  of  a  calamitous 
experience,  confirming  the  forecasts  of  its  inspired 
prophets. 

"  lahvah  my  strength  and  my  stronghold  and  my  refuge  in  the 

day  of  distress  ! 
Unto  Thee  the  very  heathen  will  come  from  the  ends  of  the 

earth,  and  will  say : 
'  Mere  fraud  did  our  fathers  receive  as  their  own, 
Mere  breath,  and  beings  among  whom  is  no  helper. 
Should  man  make  him  gods, 
When  such  things  are  not  gods  ? ' 

"  Therefore,  behold  I  am  about  to  let  them  know — 
At  this  time  will  I  let  them  know  My  hand  and  My  might, 
And  they  shall  know  that  My  name  is  lahvah  ! " 

In  the  opening  words  Jeremiah  passionately  recoils 
from  the  very  mention  of  the  hateful  idols,  the  loathly 
creations,  the  lifeless  ^'carcases,"  which  his  people 
have  put  in  the  place  of  the  Living  God.  An  over- 
mastering access  of  faith  lifts  him  off  the  low  ground 
where  these  dead  things  lie  in  their  helplessness,  and 
bears  him  in  spirit  to  lahvah,  the  really  and  eternally 
existing,  Who  is  his  ^'strength  and  stronghold  and  refuge 
in  the  day  of  distress."  From  this  height  he  takes  an 
eagle  glance  into  the  dim  future,  and  discerns — O  marvel 
of  victorious  faith ! — that  the  very  heathen,  who  have 
never  so  much  as  known  the  Name  of  lahvah,  must 
one  day  be  brought  to  acknowledge  the  impotence  of 
their  hereditary  gods,  and  the  sole  deity  of  the  Mighty 
One  of  Jacob.  He  enjoys  a  glimpse  of  Isaiah's  and 
Micah's  glorious  vision  of  the  latter  days,  when  "  the 
mountain  of  the  Lord's  House  shall  be  exalted  as  chief 
of  mountains,  and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it." 

In  the  light  of  this  revelation,  the  sin  and  folly  of 


344  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

Israel  in  dishonouring  the  One  only  God,  by  asso- 
ciating Him  with  idols  and  their  symbols,  becomes 
glaringly  visible.  The  very  heathen  (the  term  is 
emphatic  by  position),  will  at  last  grope  their  way  out 
of  the  night  of  traditional  ignorance,  and  will  own  the 
absurdity  of  manufactured  gods.  Israel,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  for  centuries  sinned  against  knowledge  and 
reason.  They  had  ''Moses  and  the  prophets";  yet 
they  hated  warning  and  despised  reproof.  They 
resisted  the  Divine  teachings,  because  they  loved  to 
walk  in  their  own  ways,  after  the  imaginings  of  their 
own  evil  hearts.  And  so  they  soon  fell  into  that 
strange  blindness,  which  suffered  them  to  see  no  sin 
in  giving  companions  to  lahvah,  and  neglecting  His 
severer  worship  for  the  sensuous  rites  of  Canaan. 

A  rude  awakening  awaits  them.  Once  more  will 
lahvah  interpose  to  save  them  from  their  infatuation. 
"  This  time  "  they  shall  be  taught  to  know  the  nothing- 
ness of  idols,  not  by  the  voice  of  prophetic  pleadings, 
not  by  the  fervid  teachings  of  the  Book  of  the  Law, 
but  by  the  sword  of  the  enemy,  by  the  rapine  and  ruin, 
in  which  the  resistless  might  of  lahvah  will  be  mani- 
fested against  His  rebellious  people.  Then,  when  the 
warnings  which  they  have  ridiculed  find  fearful  accom- 
plishment, then  will  they  know  that  the  name  of  the 
One  God  is  iahvah — He  Who  alone  was  and  is  and 
shall  be  for  evermore.  In  the  shock  of  overthrow,  in 
the  sorrows  of  captivity,  they  will  realize  the  enormity 
of  assimilating  the  Supreme  Source  of  events,  the 
Fountain  of  all  being  and  power,  to  the  miserable 
phantoms  of  a  darkened  and  perverted  imagination. 

xvii.  I- 1 8.  Jeremiah,  speaking  for  God^  returns  to 
the  affirmation  of  Judah's  guiltiness.  He  has  answered 
the  popular  question  (xvi.  lo),  so  far  as  it  iniplied  that 


xiv,,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  345 

it  was  no  mortal  sin  to  associate  the  worship  of  alien 
gods  with  the  worship  of  lahvah.  He  now  proceeds 
to  answer  it  with  an  indignant  contradiction,  so  far  as 
it  suggested  that  Judah  was  no  longer  guilty  of  the 
grossest  forms  of  idolatry. 

1  "  The  trespass  of  Judah,"  he  affirms,  "is  written  with  pen  ot 

iron,  with  point  of  adamant ; 
Graven  upon  the  tablet  of  their  heart, 
And  upon  the  horns  of  their  altars  : 
Even  as  their  sons  remember  their  altars, 
And  their  sacred  poles  by  the  evergreen  trees, 
Upon  the  high  hills. 

2  "  O  My  mountain  in  the  field ! 

Thy  wealth  and  all  thy  treasures  will  I  give  for  a  spoil. 
For  the  trespass  of  thine  high-places  in  all  thy  borders. 

And  thou  shalt  drop  thine  hand  '  from  thy  demesne  which  I 

gave  thee ; 
And  I  will  enslave  thee  to  thine  enemies, 
In  the  land  that  thou  knowest  not ; 

"For  a  fire  have  ye  kindled  in  Mine  anger; 
It  shall  burn  for  evermore." 

It  is  clear  from  the  first  strophe  that  the  outward 
forms  of  idolatry  were  no  longer  openly  practised  in 
the  country.  Where  otherwise  would  be  the  point  of 
affirming  that  the  national  sin  was  "  written  with  pen 
of  iron,  and  point  of  adamant  " — that  it  was  "  graven 
upon  the  tablet  of  the  people's  heart  ?  "  Where  would 
be  the  point  of  alluding  to  the  children's  memory  of 
the  altars  and  sacred  poles,  which  were  the  visible 
adjuncts  of  idolatry  ?     Plainly  it  is   implied   that  the 

'  i.e.,  Loose  thine  hold  of  ...  let  go  ..  .  release.  Read  "Tl^  for 
131.  The  uses  of  DOJ^  "  to  throw  down,"  "let  fall,"  resemble  those  of 
the  Greek  177/^1  and  its  compounds.  I  corrected  the  passage  thus,  to 
find  afterwards  that  I  had  been  anticipated  by  J.  D.  Michaelis,  Graf, 
and  others. 


346  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

hideous  rites,  which  sometimes  involved  the  sacrifice 
of  children,  are  a  thing  of  the  past;  yet  not  of  the 
distant  past,  for  the  young  of  the  present  generation 
remember  them ;  those  terrible  scenes  are  burnt  in 
upon  their  memories,  as  a  haunting  recollection  which 
can  no  more  be  effaced,  than  the  guilt  contracted  by 
their  parents  as  agents  in  those  abhorrent  rites  can  be 
done  away.  The  indehble  characters  of  sin  are  graven 
deeply  upon  their  hearts;  no  need  for  a  prophet  to 
remind  them  of  facts  to  which  their  own  consciences, 
their  own  inward  sense  of  outraged  affections,  and  of 
nature  sacrificed  to  a  dark  and  bloody  superstition, 
bears  irrefragable  witness.  Rivers  of  water  cannot 
cleanse  the  stain  of  innocent  blood  from  their  polluted 
altars.  The  crimes  of  the  past  are  unatoned  for,  and 
beyond  reach  of  atonement ;  they  cry  to  heaven  for 
vengeance,  and  the  vengeance  will  surely  fall  (xv.  4). 

Hitzig  rather  prosaically  remarks  that  Josiah  had 
destroyed  the  altars.  But  the  stains  of  which  the 
poet-seer  speaks  are  not  palpable  to  sense;  he  con- 
templates unseen  realities. 

"  Will  all  great  Neptune's  ocean  wash  this  blood 
Clean  from  my  hand  ?    No,  this  my  hand  will  rather 
The  multitudinous  seas  incarnadine, 
Making  the  green  one  red." 

The  second  strophe  declares  the  nature  of  the 
punishment.  The  tender,  yearning,  hopeless  love  of 
the  cry  with  which  lahvah  resigns  His  earthly  seat 
to  profanation  and  plunder  and  red-handed  ruin, 
enhances  the  awful  impression  wrought  by  the  slow, 
deliberate  enunciation  of  the  details  of  the  sentence — 
the  utter  spoliation  of  temple  and  palaces ;  the  accumu- 
lated hoards  of  generations — all  that  represented  the 
wealth  and  culture  and  glory  of  the  time — carried  away 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  347 

for  ever ;  the  enforced  surrender  of  home  and  country  ; 
the  harsh  servitude  to  strangers  in  a  far-off  land. 

It  is  difficult  to  fix  the  date  of  this  short  lyrical 
outpouring,  if  it  be  assumed,  with  Hitzig,  that  it  is  an 
independent  whole.  He  refers  it  to  the  year  B.C.  602, 
after  Jehoiakim  had  revolted  from  Babylon — "a  pro- 
•  ceeding  which  made  a  future  captivity  well-nigh  certain, 
and  made  it  plain  that  the  sin  of  Judah  remained  still 
to  be  punished."  Moreover,  the  preceding  year  (b.c. 
603)  was  what  was  known  to  the  Law  as  a  Year  of 
Release  or  Remission  {shenath  shemittaK);  and  the 
phrase  "thou  shalt  drop  thine  hand,"  i.e.  "loose  thine 
hold  of"  the  land  (xvii.  4),  appears  to  allude  to  the 
peculiar  usages  of  that  year,  in  which  the  debtor  was 
released  from  his  obligations,  and  the  corn-lands  and 
vineyards  were  allowed  to  lie  fallow.  The  Year  of 
Release  was  also  called  the  Year  of  Rest  (shenath 
shabbathon,  Lev.  xxv.  5);  and  both  in  the  present 
passage  of  Jeremiah,  and  in  the  book  of  Leviticus, 
the  time  to  be  spent  by  the  Jews  in  exile  is  regarded 
as  a  period  of  rest  for  the  desolate  land,  which  would 
then  "  make  good  her  sabbaths"  (Lev.  xxvi.  34,  35,  43). 
The  Chronicler  indeed  seems  to  refer  to  this  very 
phrase  of  Jeremiah ;  at  all  events,  nothing  else  is  to 
be  found  in  the  extant  works  of  the  prophet  with 
which  his  language  corresponds  (2  Chron.  xxxvi.  21). 

If  the  rendering  of  the  second  verse,  which  we  find 
in  both  our  English  versions,  and  which  I  have  adopted 
above,  be  correct,  there  arises  an  obvious  objection 
to  the  date  assigned  by  Hitzig ;  and  the  same  objection 
lies  against  the  view  of  Naegelsbach,  who  translates  : 

'•  As  their  children  remember  their  altars, 
And  their  images  of  Baal  by  (i.e.  at  the  sight  of)  the  green 
trees,  by  the  high  hills." 


348  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

For  in  what  sense  could  this  have  been  written  "  not 
long  before  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,"  which  is 
the  date  suggested  by  this  commentator  for  the  whole 
group  of  chapters,  xiv.-xvii.  i8  ?  The  entire  reign  of 
Josiah  had  intervened  between  the  atrocities  of  Manasseh 
and  this  period ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  suppose  that  any 
sacrifice  of  children  had  occurred  in  the  three  months*  • 
reign  of  Jehoahaz,  or  in  the  early  years  of  Jehoiakim. 
Had  it  been  so,  Jeremiah,  who  denounces  the  latter 
king  severely  enough,  would  certainly  have  placed  the 
horrible  fact  in  the  forefront  of  his  invective ;  and 
instead  of  specifying  Manasseh  as  the  king  whose 
offences  lahvah  would  not  pardon,  would  have  thus 
branded  Jehoiakim,  his  own  contemporary.  This  diffi- 
culty appears  to  be  avoided  by  Hitzig,  who  explains 
the  passage  thus  :  ''  When  they  (the  Jews)  think  of 
their  children,  they  remember,  and  cannot  but  remember, 
the  altars  to  whose  horns  the  blood  of  their  immolated 
children  cleaves.  In  the  same  way,  by  a  green  tree 
on  the  hills,  i.e.,  when  they  come  upon  any  such,  their 
Asherim  are  brought  to  mind,  which  were  trees  of  that 
sort."  And  since  it  is  perhaps  possible  to  translate 
the  Hebrew  as  this  suggests,  '^When  they  remember 
their  sons,  their  altars,  and  their  sacred  poles,  by  {i,e, 
by  means  of)  the  evergreen  trees  (collective  term)  upon 
the  high  hills,"  and  this  translation  agrees  well  with 
the  statement  that  the  sin  of  Judah  is  "  graven  upon 
the  tablet  of  their  heart,"  his  view  deserves  further 
consideration.  The  same  objection,  however,  presses 
again,  though  with  somewhat  diminished  force.  For 
if  the  date  of  the  section  be  602,  the  eighth  year  of 
Jehoiakim,  more  than  forty  years  must  have  elapsed 
between  the  time  of  Manasseh's  bloody  rites  and  the 
utterance   of    this   oracle.      Would   many  who   were 


iv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  349 

parents  then,  and  surrendered  their  children  for  sacri- 
fice; be  still  Hving  at  the  supposed  date  ?  And  if  not, 
where  is  the  appropriateness  of  the  words  '^  When  they 
remember  their  sons,  their  altars,  and  their  Asherim  ?  " 
There  seems  no  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  but  either 
to  date  the  piece  much  earlier,  assigning  it,  e.g.^  to  the 
time  of  the  prophet's  earnest  preaching  in  connexion 
with  the  reforming  movement  of  Josiah,  when  the 
living  generation  would  certainly  remember  the  human 
sacrifices  under  Manasseh  ;  or  else  to  construe  the 
passage  in  a  very  different  sense,  as  follows.  The 
first  verse  declares  that  the  sin  oijiidah  is  graven  upon 
the  tablet  of  their  hearty  and  upon  the  horns  of  their 
altars.  The  pronouns  evidently  shew  that  it  is  the 
guilt  of  the  nation,  not  of  a  particular  generation,  that 
is  asserted.  The  subsequent  words  agree  with  this 
view.  The  expression,  '^  Their  sons  "  is  to  be  under- 
stood in  the  same  way  as  the  expressions  '^  their  heart," 
"  their  altars."  It  is  equivalent  to  the  "  sons  of  Judah  " 
(bene  JehudaJi),  and  means  simply  the  people  of  Judah, 
as  now  existing,  the  present  generation.  Now  it  does 
not  appear  that  image-worship  and  the  cultus  of"  the 
high-places  revived  after  their  abolition  by  Josiah. 
Accordingly,  the  symbols  of  impure  worship  mentioned 
in  this  passage  are  not  high-places  and  images  but 
altars  and  Asherim,  i,e.,  the  wooden  poles  which  were 
the  emblems  of  the  reproductive  principle  of  Nature. 
What  the  passage  therefore  intends  to  say  would  seem 
to  be  this  :  "  The  guilt  of  the  nation  remains,  so  long 
as  its  children  are  mindful  of  their  altars  and  Asherim 
erected  beside  ^  the  evergreen  trees  on  the  high  hills  " ; 

*  There  is  something  strange  about  the  phrase  "  by  (upon,  *«/)  the 
evergreen  tree."  Twenty-five  Heb.  MSS.,  the  Targ.,  and  the  Syriac, 
read  "every"  (kol)  for   "upon"  (al).    We  still  feel  the  want  of  a 


350  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

i.e.,  SO  long  as  they  remain  attached  to  the  modified 
idolatry  of  the  day. 

The  general  force  of  the  words  remains  the  same, 
whether  they  accuse  the  existing  generation  of  serving 
sun -pillars  (niag^eboth)  and  sacred  poles  (asherim),  or 
merely  of  hankering  after  the  old  forbidden  rites.  For 
so  long  as  the  popular  heart  was  wedded  to  the  former 
superstitions,  it  could  not  be  said  that  any  external 
abolition  of  idolatry  was  a  sufficient  proof  of  national 
repentance.  The  longing  to  indulge  in  sin  is  sin  ;  and 
sinful  it  is  not  to  hate  sin.  The  guilt  of  the  nation 
remained,  therefore,  and  would  remain,  until  blotted 
out  by  the  tears  of  a  genuine  repentance  towards 
lahvah. 

But  understood  thus,  the  passage  suits  the  time  of 
Jehoiachin,  as  well  as  any  other  period. 

^'Why,"  asks  Naegelsbach,  ^'should  not  Moloch  have 
been  the  terror  of  the  Israelitish  children,  when  there 
was  such  real  and  sad  ground  for  it,  as  in  wanting  in 
other  bugbears  which  terrify  the  children  of  the  present 
day  ?"  To  this  we  may  reply,  (i)  Moloch  is  not  men- 
tioned at  all,  but  simply  altars  and  asherim;  (2)  would 
the  word  *' remember  "  be  appropriate  in  this  case  ? 

The  beautiful  strophes  which  follow  (5-13)  are  not 
obviously  connected  with   the  preceding   text.     They 

preposition,  and  may  confidently  restore  "  under  "  {taJmth),  from  the 
nine  other  passages  in  which  "  evergreen  tree  "  (Vc  rdanavi)  occurs  in 
connexion  with  idolatrous  worship.  In  all  these  instances  the  ex- 
pression is  "  under  every  evergreen  tree  "  {tahath  kol  'ec  rdattan)  ;  from 
the  Book  of  the  Law  (Deut.  xii.  2),  whence  Jeremiah  probably  drew 
the  phrase,  to  2  Chron.  xxviii.  4.  Jeremiah  has  already  used  the 
phrase  thrice  (ii.  20,  iii.  6,  13),  in  exactly  the  same  form.  The  other 
passages  are  Ezek.  vi.  13  ;  Isa.  Ivii.  5  ;  2  Kings  xvi.  4,  xvii.  10.  The 
corruption  of  kol  into  'a/  is  found  elsewhere.  Probably  tahath  had 
dropt  out  of  the  text,  before  the  change  took  place  here. 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  351 

wear  a  look  of  self-completeness,  which  suggests  that 
here  and  in  many  other  places  Jeremiah  has  left  us, 
not  whole  discourses,  written  down  substantially  in  the 
form  in  which  they  were  delivered,  but  rather  his  more 
finished  fragments  ;  pieces  which  being  more  rhythmical 
in  form,  and  more  striking  in  thought,  had  imprinted 
themselves  more  deeply  upon  his  memory. 

"  Thus  hath  lahvah  said : 
Cursed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  human  kind. 
And  maketh  flesh  his  arm, 
And  wliose  heart  svverveth  from  lahvah  ! 
And  he  shall  become  like  a  leafless  tree  in  the  desert, 
And  shalt  not  see  when  good  cometh  ; 
And  shall  dwell  in  parched  places  in  the  steppe, 
A  salt  land  and  uninhabited. 

"  Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  lahvah, 
And  whose  trust  lahvah  becometh  ! 
And  he  shall  become  like  a  tree  planted  by  water, 
That  spreadeth  its  roots  by  a  stream. 
And  is  not  afraid  when  heat  cometh, 
And  its  leaf  is  evergreen  ; 
And  in  the  year  of  drought  it  feareth  not, 
Nor  leaveth  off  from  making  fruit." 

The  form  of  the  thought  expressed  in  these  two 
octostichs,  the  curse  and  the  blessing,  may  have  been 
suggested  by  the  curses  and  blessings  of  that  Book 
of  the  Law  of  which  Jeremiah  had  been  so  faithful 
an  interpreter  (Deut.  xxvii.  15-xxviii.  20);  while  both 
the  thought  and  the  form  of  the  second  stanza  are 
imitated  by  the  anonymous  poet  of  the  first  psalm. 
The  mention  of  ''the  year  of  drought"  in  the  penulti- 
mate line  may  be  taken,  perhaps,  as  a  link  of  connexion 
between  this  brief  section  and  the  whole  of  what  pre- 
cedes it  so  far  as  chap,  xiv.,  which  is  headed  "  Concern- 
ing the  droughts."     If,  however,  the  group  of  chapters 


352  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

thus  marked  out  really  constitute  a  single  discourse, 
as  Naegelsbach  assumes,  one  can  only  say  that  the 
style  is  episodical  rather  than  continuous ;  that  the 
prophet  has  often  recorded  detached  thoughts,  worked 
up  to  a  certain  degree  of  literary  form,  but  hanging 
together  as  loosely  as  pearls  on  a  string.  Indeed, 
unless  we  suppose  that  he  had  kept  full  notes  of  his 
discourses  and  soliloquies,  or  that,  like  certain  pro- 
fessional lecturers  of  our  own  day,  he  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  indefinitely  repeating  to  different  audiences  the 
same  carefully  elaborated  compositions,  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  how  he  would  be  able  without  the  aid  of 
a  special  miracle,  to  write  down  in  the  fourth  year  of 
Jehoiakim  the  numerous  utterances  of  the  previous 
three  and  twenty  years.  Neither  of  these  suppositions 
appears  probable.  But  if  the  prophet  wrote  from 
memory,  so  long  after  the  original  delivery  of  many 
of  his  utterances,  the  looseness  of  internal  connexion, 
which  marks  so  much  of  his  book,  is  readily  under- 
stood. 

The  internal  evidence  of  the  fragment  before  us, 
so  far  as  any  such  is  traceable,  appears  to  point  to 
the  same  period  as  what  precedes,  the  time  immediately 
subsequent  to  the  death  of  Jehoiakim.  The  curse 
pronounced  upon  trusting  in  man  may  be  an  allusion 
to  that  king's  confidence  in  the  Egyptian  alliance, 
which  probably  induced  him  to  revolt  from  Nebuchad- 
rezzar, and  so  precipitate  the  final  catastrophe  of  his 
country.  He  owed  his  throne  to  the  Pharaoh's 
appointment  (2  Kings  xxiii.  34),  and  may  perhaps  have 
regarded  this  as  an  additional  reason  for  defection 
from  Babylon.  But  the  chastisement  of  Egypt  pre- 
ceded that  of  Judah ;  and  when  the  day  came  for  the 
latter,  the  king  of  Egypt   durst  no  longer  go   to  the 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  353 

help  of  his  too  trustful  allies  (2  Kings  xxiv.  7). 
Jehoiakim  had  died,  but  his  son  and  successor  was 
carried  captive  to  Babylon.  In  the  brief  interval 
between  those  two  events,  the  prophet  may  have 
penned  these  two  stanzas,  contrasting  the  issues  of 
confidence  in  man  and  confidence  in  God.  On  the 
other  hand,  they  may  also  be  referred  to  some  time 
not  long  before  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  when 
that  king,  egged  on  by  Egypt,  was  meditating  rebellion 
against  his  suzerain ;  an  act  of  which  the  fatal  con- 
sequences might  easily  be  foreseen  by  an}^  thoughtful 
observer,  who  was  not  blinded  by  fanatical  passion 
and  prejudice,  and  which  might  itself  be  regarded  as 
an  index  of  the  kindling  of  Divine  wrath  against  the 
country. 

•'  Deep  is  the  heart  above  all  things  else ; 
And  sore-diseased  it  is  ;  who  can  know  it  ? 
I,  lahvah,  search  the  heart,  I  try  the  rchis, 
And  that,  to  give  to  a  man  according  to  his  own  ways, 
According  to  the  fruit  of  his  own  doings. 

"  A  partridge  that  gathereth  young  which  are  not  hers, 
Is  he  that  maketh  wealth  not  by  right. 
In  the  middle  of  his  days  it  will  leave  him. 
And  in  his  end  he  shall  prove  a  fool. 

"  A  throne  of  glory,  a  high  seat  from  of  old, 
Is  the  place  of  our  sanctuary. 
Hope  of  Israel,  lahvah  ! 
All  that  leave  Thee  shall  be  ashamed  ; 
Mine  apostates  shall  be  written  in  earth  ; 
For  they  left  the  Well  of  Living  Waters,  even  lahvah. 

"  Heal  Thou  me,  lahvah,  and  I  shall  be  healed, 
Save  Thou  me,  and  I  shall  be  saved, 
For  Thou  art  my  praise. 

"  Lo,  they  say  unto  me, 
Where  is  the  Word  of  lahvah  ?  Prithee,  let  it  come  I 
Yet  I,  I  hasted  not  from  being  a  shepherd  after  Thee, 

2^ 


354  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

And  woeful  day  I  desired  not — Thou  knowest; 
The  issue  of  my  lips,  before  Thy  face  it  fell. 

"  Become  not  a  terror  to  me  ! 
Thou  art  my  refuge  in  the  day  of  evil. 
Let  my  pursuers  be  ashamed,  and  let  not  me  be  ashamed! 
Let  them  be  dismayed,  and  let  not  me  be  dismayed ; 
Let  Thou  come  upon  them  a  day  of  evil, 
And  doubly  with  breaking  break  Thou  them  I  ** 

In  the  first  of  these  stanzas,  the  word  "heart"  is 
the  connecting  link  with  the  previous  reflexions.  The 
curse  and  the  blessing  had  there  been  pronounced 
not  upon  any  outward  and  visible  distinctions,  but 
upon  a  certain  inward  bent  and  spirit.  He  is  called 
accursed,  whose  confidence  is  placed  in  changeable, 
perishable  man,  and  "whose  heart  swerveth  from 
lahvah."  And  he  is  blessed,  who  pins  his  faith  to 
nothing  visible ;  who  looks  for  help  and  stay  not  to  the 
seen,  which  is  temporal,  but  to  the  Unseen,  which  is 
eternal. 

The  thought  now  occurs  that  this  matter  of  inward 
trust,  being  a  matter  of  the  heart,  and  not  merely  of 
the  outward  bearing,  is  a  hidden  matter,  a  secret 
which  bafQes  all  ordinary  judgment.  Who  shall  take 
upon  him  to  say  whether  this  or  that  man,  this  or  that 
prince  confided  or  not  confided  in  lahvah  ?  The 
human  heart  is  a  sea,  whose  depths  are  beyond  human 
search ;  or  it  is  a  shifty  Proteus,  transforming  itself 
from  moment  to  moment  under  the  pressure  of 
changing  circumstances,  at  the  magic  touch  of  impulse, 
under  the  spell  of  new  perceptions  and  new  phases 
of  its  world.  And  besides,  its  very  life  is  tainted  with 
a  subtle  disease,  whose  hereditary  influence  is  ever 
interfering  with  the  will  and  affections,  ever  tampering 
with   the    conscience   and    the  judgment,  and  making 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT,  S-JS 


difficult  a  clear  perception,  much  more  a  wise  decision. 
Nay,  where  so  many  motives  press,  so  many  plausible 
suggestions  of  good,  so  many  palliations  of  evil, 
present  themselves  upon  the  eve  of  action ;  when  the 
colours  of  good  and  evil  mingle  and  gleam  together  in 
such  rich  profusion  before  the  dazzled  sight,  that  the 
mind  is  bewildered  by  the  confused  medley  of  appear- 
ances, and  wholly  at  a  loss  to  discern  and  disentangle 
them  one  from  another;  is  it  wonderful,  if  in  such 
a  case  the  heart  should  take  refuge  in  the  comfortable 
illusion  of  self-deceit,  and  seek,  with  too  great  success, 
to  persuade  itself  into  contentment  with  something 
which  it  calls  not  positive  evil  but  merely  a  less 
sublime  good  ? 

It  is  not  for  man,  who  cannot  see  the  heart,  to 
pronounce  upon  the  degree  of  his  fellow's  guilt.  All 
sins,  all  crimes,  are  in  this  respect  relative  to  the 
intensity  of  passion,  the  force  of  circumstances,  the 
nature  of  surroundings,  the  comparative  stress  of 
temptation.  Murder  and  adultery  are  absolute  crimes 
in  the  eye  of  human  law,  and  subject  as  such  to  fixed 
penalties;  but  the  Unseen  Judge  takes  cognizance  uf 
a  thousand  considerations,  which  though  they  abolish 
not  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  these  hideous  results 
of  a  depraved  nature,  yet  modify  to  a  vast  extent  the 
degree  of  guilt  evinced  in  particular  cases  by  the  same 
outward  acts.  In  the  sight  of  God,  a  life  socially 
correct  may  be  stained  with  a  deeper  dye  than  that  of 
profligacy  or  bloodshed ;  and  nothing  so  glaringly 
shows  the  folly  of  inquiring  what  is  the  unpardonable 
sin,  as  the  reflexion  that  any  sin  whatever  may  become 
such  in  an  individual  case. 

Before  God,  human  justice  is  often  the  liveliest 
injustice.     And  how  many  flagrant  wrongs,  how  many 


356  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

monstrous  acts  of  cruelty  and  oppression,  how  many 
wicked  frauds  and  perjuries,  how  many  of  those  vile 
deeds  of  seduction  and  corruption,  which  are,  in  truth, 
the  murder  of  immortal  souls ;  how  many  of  those 
fearful  sins,  which  make  a  sorrow-laden  hell  beneath 
the  smiling  surface  of  this  pleasure-wooing  world, 
are  left  unheeded,  unavenged  by  any  earthly  tribunal ! 
But  all  these  things  are  noted  in  the  eternal  record  of 
Him  who  searches  the  heart,  and  penetrates  man's 
inmost  being,  not  from  a  motive  of  mere  curiosity,  but 
with  fixed  intent  to  award  a  righteous  recompense  for 
all  choice  and  all  conduct. 

The  calamities  which  marked  the  last  years  of 
Jehoiakim,  and  his  ignominious  end,  were  a  signal 
instance  of  Divine  retribution.  Here  that  king's 
lawless  avarice  is  branded  as  not  only  wicked  but 
foolish.  He  is  compared  to  the  partridge,  which 
gathers  and  hatches  the  eggs  of  other  birds,  only  to 
be  deserted  at  once  by  her  stolen  brood.  ^  "  In  the 
middle  of  his  days,  it  shall  leave  him"  (or  "it  may 
leave  him,"  for  in  Hebrew  one  form  has  to  do  duty  for 
both  shades  of  meaning).  The  uncertainty  of  posses- 
sion, the  certainty  of  absolute  surrender  within  a  few 
short  years,  this  is  the  point  which  demonstrates  the 
unreason  of  making  riches  the  chief  end  of  one's 
earthly  activity.  "Truly  man  walketh  in  a  vain 
shadow,  and  disquieteth  himself  in  vain  :  he  heapeth 
up  riches,  and  cannot  tell  who  shall  gather  them."  It 
is  the  point  which  is  put  with  such  terrible  force  in  the 
parable  of  the  Rich  Fool.  "  Soul,  thou  hast  much 
goods  laid  up  for  thyself  for  many  years ;  take  thine 
ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry."     "  And  the  Lord  said 

*  A  popular  opinion  of  the  time. 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT,  357 

unto  him,  Thou  fool !  this  night  shall  thy  soul  be 
required  of  thee." 

The  covetousness,  oppression,  and  bloodthirstiness 
of  Jehoiakim  are  condemned  in  a  striking  prophecy 
(xxii.  13-19),  which  we  shall  have  to  consider  here- 
after. A  vivid  light  is  thrown  upon  the  words,  "  In 
the  middle  of  his  days  it  shall  leave  him,"  by  the  fact 
recorded  in  Kings  (2  Kings  xxiii.  36),  that  he  died 
in  the  thirty-sixth  year  of  his  age;  when,  that  is,  he 
had  fulfilled  but  half  of  the  threescore  years  and  ten 
allotted  to  the  ordinary  life  of  man.  We  are  reminded 
of  that  other  psalm  which  declares  that  '^  bloody  and 
deceitful  men  shall  not  live  out  half  their  days  "  (Iv.  23). 

Apart  indeed  from  all  consideration  of  the  future, 
and  apart  from  all  reference  to  that  loyalty  to  the 
Unseen  Ruler  which  is  man's  inevitable  duty,  a  life 
devoted  to  Mammon  is  essentially  irrational.  The 
man  is  most  truly  a  '^  fool  " — that  is,  one  who  fails  to 
understand  his  own  nature,  one  who  has  not  attained 
to  even  a  tolerable  working  hypothesis  as  to  the  needs 
of  life,  and  the  way  to  win  a  due  share  of  happiness ; 
— who  has  not  discovered  that 

"  riches  have  their  proper  stint 
In  the  contented  mind,  not  mint;" 
and  that 

"  those  who  have  the  itch 
Of  craving  more,  are  never  rich ;  ** 

and  who  has  missed  all  apprehension  of  the  grand 
secret  that 

"  Wealth  cannot  make  a  life,  but  love.** 

From   the   vanity   of  earthly   thrones,    whether    of 

Egypt  or  of  Judah,  thrones  whose  glory  is  transitory, 

and  whose  power  to  help  and  succour  is  so  ill-assured, 

the  prophet  Hfts  his  eyes   to  the  one  throne   whose 


358  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

glory  is  everlasting,  and  whose  power  and  permanence 
are  an  eternal  refuge. 

"  Thou  Throne  of  Glory,  High  Seat  from  of  old, 
Place  of  our  Sanctuary,  Hope  of  Israel,  lahvah  I 
All  who  leave  Thee  blush  for  shame  ; 
Mine  apostates  are  written  in  earth ; 

For  they  have  forsaken  the  Well  of  Living  Water,  even 
lahvah  I " 

It  is  his  concluding  reflexion  upon  the  unblest, 
unhonoured  end  of  the  apostate  Jehoiakim.  If  Isaiah 
could  speak  of  Shebna  as  a  "  throne  of  glory/' ^  i.e.^  the 
honoured  support  and  mainstay  of  his  family,  there 
seems  no  reason  why  lahvah  might  not  be  so 
addressed,  as  the  supporting  power  and  sovereign  of 
the  world. 

The  terms  "  Throne  of  Glory "  .  .  .  "  Place  of  our 
Sanctuary"  seem  to  be  used  much  as  we  use  the 
expressions,  "the  Crown,"  "the  Court,"  "the  Throne," 
when  we  mean  the  actual  ruler  with  whom  these  things 
are  associated.  And  when  the  prophet  declares 
"  Mine^  apostates  are  written  in  earth,"  he  asserts  that 
oblivion  is  the  portion  of  those  of  his  people,  high  or 
low,  who  forsake  lahvah  for  another  god.  Their  names 
are  not  written  in  the  Book  of  Life  (Ex.  xxxii.  32; 
Ps.  Ixix.  28),  but  in  the  sand  whence  they  are  soon 
effaced.     The  prophets  do  not  attempt  to  expose 

"  The  sweet  strange  mystery 
Of  what  beyond  these  things  may  lie." 

They  do  not  in  express  terms  promise  eternal  life  to 
the  individual  believer. 

*  Isa.  xxii.  23. 

^  The  Heb.  term  is  probably  written  with  omission  of  the  final 
mem^  a  common  abbreviation ;  and  the  right  reading  may  be  D^IIDI 
"and  apostates." 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT,  359 


But  how  often  do  their  words  imply  that  comfortable 
doctrine  !  They  who  forsake  lahvah  must  perish,  for 
there  is  neither  permanence  nor  stay  apart  from 
Iahvah,  whose  very  Name  denotes  He  who  Is,  the 
sole  Principle  of  Being  and  Fountain  of  Life.  If  they 
— nations  and  persons — who  revolt  from  Him  must 
die,  the  implication,  the  truth  necessary  to  complete 
this  affirmation,  is  that  they  who  trust  in  Him,  and 
make  Him  their  arm,  will  Hve ;  for  union  with  Him 
is  eternal  life. 

In  this  Fountain  of  Living  Water  Jeremiah  now  seeks 
healing  for  himself.  The  malady  that  afflicts  him  is  the 
apparent  failure  of  his  oracles.  He  suffers  as  a  prophet 
whose  word  seems  idle  to  the  multitude.  He  is  hurt 
with  their  scorn,  and  wounded  to  the  heart  with  their 
scoffing.  On  all  sides  men  press  the  mocking  question, 
"  Where  is  the  word  of  lahvah  ?  Prithee,  let  it  come 
to  pass  !  "  His  threats  of  national  overthrow  had  not 
been  speedily  reahzed ;  and  men  made  a  mock  of  the 
delays  of  Divine  mercy.  Conscious  of  his  own  integrity, 
and  keenly  sensitive  to  the  ridicule  of  his  triumphant 
adversaries,  and  scarcely  able  to  endure  longer  his 
intolerable  position,  he  pours  out  a  prayer  for  healing 
and  help.  Heal  me,  he  cries,  and  I  shall  be  healed. 
Save  me  and  I  shall  be  saved — really  and  truly  saved, 
as  the  form  of  the  Hebrew  term  implies;  for  Thou 
art  my  praise,  my  boast  and  my  glory,  as  the  Book 
of  the  Law  affirms  (Deut.  x.  21).  I  have  not  trusted 
in  man,  but  in  God  ;  and  if  this  my  sole  glory  be 
taken  away,  if  events  prove  me  a  false  prophet,  as 
my  friends  allege,  applying  the  very  test  of  the  sacred 
Law  (Deut.  xviii.  21  sq.),  then  shall  I  be  of  all  men 
most  forsaken  and  forlorn.  The  bitterness  of  his  woe 
is  intensified    by  the    consciousness    that   he  has  not 


36o  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

thrust  himself  without  call  into  the  prophetic  office,  like 
the  false  prophets  whose  aim  was  to  traffic  in  sacred 
things  (xiv.  14,  15);  for  then  the  consciousness  of 
guilt  might  have  made  the  punishment  more  tolerable, 
and  the  facts  would  have  justified  the  jeers  of  his 
persecutors.  But  the  case  was  far  otherwise.  He  had 
been  most  unwilling  to  assume  the  function  of  prophet ; 
and  it  was  only  in  obedience  to  the  stress  of  repeated 
calls  that  he  had  yielded.  ^^  But  as  for  me,"  he  protests, 
''  I  hasted  not  from  being  a  shepherd  to  follow  Thee." 
It  would  seem,  if  this  be  the  correct,  as  it  certainly  is 
the  simplest  rendering  of  his  words,  that,  at  the  time 
when  he  first  became  aware  of  his  true  vocation,  the 
young  prophet  was  engaged  in  tending  the  flocks  that 
grazed  in  the  priestly  pasture-grounds  of  Anathoth. 
In  that  case,  we  are  reminded  of  David,  who  was  sum- 
moned from  the  sheepfold  to  camp  and  court,  and  of 
Amos  the  prophet-herdsman  of  Tekoa.  But  the  Hebrew 
term  translated  '^from  being  a  shepherd"  is  probably 
a  disguise  of  some  other  original  expression ;  and  it 
would  involve  no  very  violent  change  to  read  '*  I  made 
no  haste  to  follow  after  Thee  fully "  or  "  entirely "  * 
(Deut.  i.  36);  a  reading  which  is  partially  supported 
by  the  oldest  version.  Or  it  may  be  even  better,  as 
involving  a  mere  change  in  the  punctuation,^  to  amend 
the  text  thus :  "  But  as  for  me,  I  made  no  haste,  in 
ollowing  thee,"  more  Hterally,  *'  in  accompanying  thee  " 
(Judg.  xiv.  20),  This,  however,  is  a  point  of  textual 
criticism,  which  leaves  the  general  sense  the  same  in 
any  case. 

When  the  prophet  adds  :  "  and  the  ill  day  I  desired 
not,"  some  think  that  he  means  the  day  when  he  sur- 

»  N^»  for  ni;nD.  «  nj^np  for  ny-iip. 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  361 

rendered  to  the  Divine  calling,  and  accepted  his  mission. 
But  it  seems  to  suit  the  context  better,  if  we  understand 
by  the  ^^  ill  day  "  the  day  of  wrath  whose  coming  was 
the  burden  of  his  preaching ;  the  day  referred  to  in 
the  taunts  of  his  enemies,  when  they  asked  "Where 
is  the  word  of  lahvah  ?  "  adding  with  biting  sarcasm : 
'^  Prithee,  let  it  come  to  pass."  They  sneered  at  Jere- 
miah as  one  who  seized  every  occasion  to  predict  evil, 
as  one  who  longed  to  witness  the  ruin  of  his  country. 
The  utter  injustice  of  the  charge,  in  view  of  the  frequent 
cries  of  anguish  which  interrupt  his  melancholy  fore- 
casts, is  no  proof  that  it  was  not  made.  In  all  ages, 
God's  representatives  have  been  called  upon  to  endure 
false  accusations.  Hence  the  prophet  appeals  from 
man's  unrighteous  judgment  to  God  the  Searcher  of 
hearts.  "  Thou  knowest ;  the  utterance  of  my  lips 
(Deut.  xxiii.  24)  before  Thy  face  it  fell "  :  as  if  to 
say.  No  word  of  mine,  spoken  in  Thy  name,  was  a 
figment  of  my  own  fancy,  uttered  for  my  own  pur- 
poses, without  regard  of  Thee.  I  have  always  spoken 
as  in  Thy  presence,  or  rather,  in  Thy  presence. 
Thou,  who  hearest  all,  didst  hear  each  utterance  of 
mine ;  and  therefore  knowest  that  all  I  said  was 
truthful  and  honest  and  in  perfect  accord  with  my 
commission. 

If  only  we  who,  like  Jeremiah,  are  called  upon  to 
speak  for  God,  could  always  remember  that  every  word 
we  say  is  uttered  in  that  Presence,  what  a  sense  of 
responsibility  would  lie  upon  us ;  with  what  labour  and 
prayers  should  we  not  make  our  preparation !  Too 
often  alas  I  it  is  to  be  feared  that  our  perception  of 
the  presence  of  man  banishes  all  sense  of  any  higher 
presence;  and  the  anticipation  of  a  fallible  and  frivolous 
criticism  makes  us  forget  for  the  time  the  judgment  of 


362  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

God.  And  yet  "  by  our  words  we  shall  be  justified, 
and  by  our  words  we  shall  be  condemned." 

In  continuing  his  prayer,  Jeremiah  adds  the  remark- 
able petition,  "Become  not  Thou  to  me  a  cause  of 
dismay ! "  He  prays  to  be  delivered  from  that  over- 
whelming perplexity,  which  threatens  to  swallow  him 
up,  unless  God  should  verify  by  events  that  which  His 
own  Spirit  has  prompted  him  to  utter.  'He  prays  that 
lahvah,  his  only  "  refuge  in  the  day  of  evil,"  will  not 
bemock  him  with  vain  expectations ;  will  not  falsify 
His  own  guidance  ;  will  not  suffer  His  messenger  to  be 
"  ashamed,"  disappointed  and  put  to  the  blush  by  the 
failure  of  his  predictions.  And  then  once  again,  in  the 
spirit  of  his  time,  he  implores  vengeance  upon  his  un- 
believing and  cruel  persecutors :  "  Let  them  be  ashamed," 
disappointed  in  their  expectation  of  immunity,  "let 
ihem  be  dismayed,"  crushed  in  spirit  and  utterly  over- 
come by  the  fulfilment  of  his  dark  presages  of  evil.  "Let 
Thou  come  upon  them  a  day  of  evil.  And  doubly  with 
breaking  break  Thou  them ! "  This  indeed  asks  no 
more  than  that  what  has  been  spoken  before  in  the 
way  of  prophecy — "I  will  repay  the  double  of  their 
guilt  and  their  trespass"  (xvi.  1 8) — may  be  forthwith 
accomplished.  And  the  provocation  was,  beyond  all 
question,  immense.  The  hatred  that  burned  in  the 
taunt  "  Where  is  the  word  of  lahvah  ?  Prithee,  let  it 
come  to  pass  ! "  was  doubtless  of  like  kind  with  that 
which  at  a  later  stage  of  Jewish  history  expressed  it- 
self in  the  words  "  He  trusted  in  God,  let  Him  deliver 
Him  ! "  "  If  He  be  the  Son  of  God,  let  Him  now  come 
down  from  the  cross,  and  we  will  believe  on  Him  I " 

And  how  much  fierce  hostility  that  one  term  "  my 
pursuers  "  may  cover,  it  is  easy  to  infer  from  the  narra- 
tives of  the  prophet's  evil  experience  in  chaps,  xx.,  xxvi. 


xiv.,xv.]  THE  DROUGHT.  363 


and  xxxviii.  But  allowing  for  all  this,  we  can  at  best 
only  affirm  that  the  prophet's  imprecations  on  his  foes 
are  natural  and  human ;  we  cannot  pretend  that  they 
are  evangelical  and  Christ-like.^  Besides,  the  latter 
would  be  a  gratuitous  anachronism,  which  no  intelli- 
gent interpreter  of  Scripture  is  called  upon  to  perpe- 
trate. It  is  neither  necessary  to  the  proper  vindication 
of  the  prophet's  writings  as  truly  inspired  of  God,  nor 
helpful  to  a  right  conception  of  the  method  of  revela- 
tion. 


'  I  have  left  this  paragraph  as  I  wrote  it,  although  I  feel  great 
doubts  upon  the  subject.  What  I  have  remarked  elsewhere  on 
similar  passages,  should  be  considered  along  with  the  present  sug- 
gestions. We  have  especially  to  remember,  (i)  the  peculiar  status 
of  the  speaker  as  a  true  prophet  ;  and  (ii)  the  terrible  invectives  of 
Christ  Himself  on  certain  occasions  (St.  Matt,  xxiii.  33-35 ;  St.  Luke 
X.  15  ;  St.  John  viii.  44). 


X. 

THE  SABBATH—A    WARNING, 
Jeremiah  xvii,  19-27. 

"  ^T^HUS  said  lahvah  unto  me :  Go  and  stand  in  the 
gate  of  Benjamin,  whereby  the  kings  of  Jiidah 
come  in,  and  whereby  they  go  out ;  and  in  all  the  gates 
of  Jerusalem.  And  say  unto  them,  Hear  ye  the  word 
of  lahvahf  O  kings  of  Judah,  and  all  Jiidah,  and  all 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  who  come  in  by  these  gates  ! 

*'  Thus  said  lahvah  :  Beware,  on  your  lives,  and  bear 
ye  not  a  burden  on  the  Day  of  Rest,  nor  bring  it  in  by 
the  gates  of  Jerusalem  !  Nor  shall  ye  bring  a  burden 
forth  out  of  your  houses  on  the  Day  of  Rest,  nor  shall 
ye  do  any  work;  but  ye  shall  hallow  the  Day  of  Rest, 
as  I  commanded  your  fathers.  (Albeit,  they  hearkened 
not,  nor  inclined  their  ear,  but  stiffened  their  neck  against 
hearkening,  and  against  receiving  instruction.) 

**  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  ye  will  indeed  hearken 
unto  Me,  saith  lahvah,  not  to  bring  a  burden  in  by  the 
gates  of  this  city  on  the  Day  of  Rest,  but  to  hallow  the 
Day  of  Rest,  not  to  do  therein  any  work;  then  there  shall 
come  in  by  the  gates  of  this  city  kings  [and  princes^ 
sitting  upon  the  throne  of  David,  riding  on  the  chariots 
and  on  the  horses,  they  and  their  princes,  O  men  of 
Judah  and  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem!  and  this  city  shall 
be  inhabited  for  ever*     And  people  shall  come  in  from 


xvii.  19-27.]       THE  SABBATH— A    WARNING.  365 

the  cities  of  Judah  and  from  the  places  round  Jerusalem j 
and  from  the  land  of  Benjamin,  and  from  the  lowlands, 
and  from  the  hill-country,  and  from  the  south,  bringing 
in  burnt-offering  and  thank-offering,  and  oblation  and 
incense;  and  bringing  a  thanksgiving  into  the  house  of 
lahvah. 

^^  And  if  ye  hearken  not  unto  Me  to  hallow  the  Day 
of  Rest,  and  not  to  bear  a  burden  and  come  in  by  the 
gates  of  Jerusalem  on  the  Day  of  Rest :  I  will  kindle  a 
fire  in  her  gates,  and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  shall  not  be  quenched^ 

The  matter  and  manner  of  this  brief  oracle  mark  it 
off  from  those  which  precede  it  as  an  independent 
utterance,  and  a  whole  complete  in  itself  Its  position 
may  be  accounted  for  by  its  probable  date,  which  may 
be  fixed  a  little  after  the  previous  chapters,  in  the  three 
months'  reign  of  the  ill-starred  Jehoiachin  ;  and  by  the 
writer's  or  his  editor's  desire  to  break  the  monotony  of 
commination  by  an  occasional  gleam  of  hope  and  promise. 
At  the  same  time,  the  introductory  formula  with  which 
it  opens  is  so  similar  to  that  of  the  two  following 
oracles  (chaps,  xviii.,  xix.),  as  to  suggest  the  idea  of  a 
connexion  in  time  between  the  members  of  the  group. 
Further,  there  is  an  obvious  connexion  of  thought 
between  chaps,  xviii.,  xix.  In  the  former,  the  house  of 
Israel  is  represented  as  clay  in  the  hand  of  the  Divine 
Potter ;  in  the  latter,  Judah  is  a  potter's  vessel  destined 
to  be  broken  in  pieces.  And  if  we  assume  the  priority 
of  the  piece  before  us,  a  logical  progress  is  observable, 
from  the  alternative  here  presented  for  the  people's 
choice,  to  their  decision  for  the  worse  part  (xviii.  12 
sqq.),  and  then  to  the  corresponding  decision  on  the 
part  of  lahvah  (xix.).  Or,  as  Hitzig  puts  it  otherwise, 
in  the  piece  before  us  the  scales  are  still  in  equipoise ; 


366  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

in  chap,  xviii.  one  goes  down  ;  lahvah  intends  mischief 
(ver.  ii),  and  the  people  are  invited  to  appease  His 
anger.  But  the  warning  is  fruitless  ;  and  therefore  the 
prophet  announces  their  destruction,  depicting  it  in  the 
darkest  colours  (chap.  xix.).  The  immediate  conse- 
quence to  Jeremiah  himself  is  related  in  chap.  xx.  1-6; 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  section,  chap.  xxi.  ii- 
xxii.  9,  is  the  continuation  of  the  oracle  addressed  to 
Pashchur :  so  that  we  have  before  us  a  whole  group  of 
prophecies  belonging  to  the  same  eventful  period  of  the 
prophet's  activity  (xvii.  20  agrees  closely  with  xxii.  2, 
and  xvii.  25  with  xxii.  4). 

The  circumstances  of  the  present  oracle  are  these. 
Jeremiah  is  inwardly  bidden  to  station  himself  first 
in  *'  the  gate  of  the  sons  of  the  people  " — a  gate  of 
Jerusalem  which  we  cannot  further  determine,  as  it  is 
not  mentioned  elsewhere  under  this  designation,  but 
which  appears  to  have  been  a  special  resort  of  the 
masses  of  the  population,  because  it  was  the  one  by 
which  the  kings  were  wont  to  enter  and  leave  the  city, 
and  where  they  doubtless  were  accustomed  to  hear 
petitions  and  to  administer  justice ;  and  afterwards,  he 
is  to  take  his  stand  in  all  the  gates  in  turn,  so  as  not  to 
miss  the  chance  of  delivering  his  message  to  any  of  his 
countrymen.  He  is  there  to  address  the  ^'  kings  of 
Judah  "  (ver.  20) ;  an  expression  which  may  denote  the 
young  king  Jehoiachin  and  his  mother  (xiii.  18),  or  the 
king  and  the  princes  of  the  blood,  the  ''  House  of  David  " 
of  chap.  xxi.  12.  The  promise  ^' kings  shall  come  in 
by  the  gates  of  this  city  .  .  .  and  this  city  shall  be 
inhabited  for  ever,"  and  the  threat  ^'  I  will  kindle  a  fire 
in  her  gates,  and  it  shall  devour  the  palaces  of  Jeru- 
salem/' may  be  taken  to  imply  a  time  when  the  public 
danger  was  generally  recognised.     The  first  part  of  the 


xvii.  19-27.]        THE  SABBATH— A    WARNING.  367 

promise  may  be  intended  to  meet  an  apprehension, 
such  as  might  naturally  be  felt  after  the  death  of 
Jehoiakim,  that  the  incensed  Chaldeans  would  come 
and  take  away  the  Jewish  place  and  nation.  In  raising 
the  boy  Jehoiachin  to  the  throne  of  his  fathers,  men 
may  have  sorrowfully  foreboded  that,  as  the  event 
proved,  he  would  never  keep  his  crown  till  manhood, 
nor  beget  a  race  of  future  kings. 

The  matter  of  the  charge  to  rulers  and  people  is  the 
due  observance  of  the  fourth  commandment :  '*  ye  shall 
hallow  the  Day  of  Rest,  as  I  commanded  your  fathers  " 
(see  Ex.  xx.  8,  "  Remember  the  Day  of  Rest,  to 
hallow  it " — which  is  probably  the  original  form  of  the 
precept.  Jeremiah,  however,  probably  had  in  mind 
the  form  of  the  precept  as  it  appears  in  Deuteronomy  : 
**  Observe  the  Day  of  Rest  to  hallow  it,  as  lahvah  thy 
God  commanded  thee:"  Deut.  v.  12).  The  Hebrew 
term  for  "  hallow "  means  to  separate  a  thing  from 
common  things,  and  devote  it  to  God. 

To  hallow  the  Day  of  Rest,  therefore,  is  to  make  a 
marked  distinction  between  it  and  ordinary  days,  and 
to  connect  it  in  some  way  with  religion.  What  is  here 
commanded  is  to  abstain  from  "  bearing  burdens,"  and 
doing  any  kind  of  work  {melakah^  Gen.  ii.  2,  3  ;  Ex. 
XX.  9,  10,  xxxi.  14,  15;  Gen.  xxxix.  1 1,  "appointed 
task,"  "duty,"  "business").     The  bearing  of  burdens 

^  The  context  is  against  supposing,  with  Graf,  that  the  prophet's 
call  "hear  ye  1"  extends  also  to  princes  yet  unborn  (cf.  xiii.  13  ;  xxv. 
18  is  different).  If,  however,  it  be  thought  that  Jeremiah  addressed 
not  the  sovereigns  personally,  but  only  the  people  passing  in  and  out 
of  the  gates ;  then  the  expression  becomes  intelligible  as  a  generalised 
plural,  like  the  parallels  in  2  Chron.  xxviii.  3  ("  his  children  "),  ibid. 
16  ("the  kings  of  Assyria  "=Tiglath-pileser  II.).  The  prophet  might 
naturally  avoid  the  singular  as  too  personal,  in  affirming  an  obliga- 
tion which  lay  upon  the  Judean  kings  in  general. 


368  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 


into  the  gates  and  out  of  the  houses  clearly  describes 
the  ordinary  commerce  between  town  and  country. 
The  country  folk  are  forbidden  to  bring  their  farm 
produce  to  the  market  in  the  city  gates,  and  the  towns- 
people to  convey  thither  from  their  houses  and  shops 
the  manufactured  goods  which  they  were  accustomed 
to  barter  for  these.  Nehemiah's  memoirs  furnish  a 
good  illustration  of  the  general  sense  of  the  passage 
(Neh.  xiii.  15),  relating  how  he  suppressed  this  Sabbath 
traffic  between  town  and  country.  Dr.  Kuenen  has 
observed  that  "Jeremiah  is  the  first  of  the  prophets 
who  stands  up  for  a  stricter  sanctification  of  the 
seventh  day,  treating  it,  however,  merely  as  a  day  of 
rest.  .  .  .  What  was  traditional  appears  to  have  been 
only  abstinence  from  field-work,  and  perhaps  also  from 
professional  pursuits."  In  like  manner,  he  had  before 
stated  that  *'  tendencies  to  such  an  exaggeration  of 
the  Sabbath  rest  as  would  make  it  absolute,  are  found 
from  the  Chaldean  period.  Isaiah  {i.  13)  regards  the 
Sabbath  purely  as  a  sacrificial  day."  The  last  state- 
ment here  is  hardly  a  fair  inference.  In  the  passage 
referred  to  Isaiah  is  inveighing  against  the  futile 
worship  of  his  contemporaries ;  and  he  only  mentions 
the  Sabbath  in  this  connexion.  And  that  *'  tradition  ** 
required  more  than  "  abstinence  from  field-work "  is 
evident  from  words  of  the  prophet  Amos,  written  at 
least  a  century  and  a  half  before  the  present  oracle, 
and  implying  that  very  abstinence  from  trading  which 
Jeremiah  prescribes.  Amos  makes  the  grasping  dealers 
of  his  time  cry  impatiently,  '^  When  will  the  new  moon 
be  gone,  that  we  may  sell  corn  ?  and  the  sabbath,  that 
we  may  set  out  wheat  for  sale?"  (Amos  viiL  5);  a 
clear  proof  that  buying  and  selling  were  suspended  on 
the  sabbath  festival  in  the  eighth  century  b.c. 


xvii.  19-27.]        THE  SABBATH— A    WARNING,  369 

It  is  hardly  likely  that,  when  law  or  custom  com- 
pelled covetous  dealers  to  cease  operations  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  buying  and  selling,  the  principal  business 
of  the  time,  was  suspended,  the  artisans  of  town  or 
country  would  be  allowed  by  public  opinion  to  ply 
their  everyday  tasks.  Accordingly,  when  Jeremiah 
adds  to  his  prohibition  of  Sabbath  trading,  a  veto  upon 
any  kind  of  "work" — a  term  which  includes  this 
trafficking,  but  also  covers  the  labour  of  handicraftsmen 
(cf  I  Kings  V.  30;  2  Kings  xii.  12;  Ex.  xxxv.  35) — 
he  is  not  really  increasing  the  stringency  of  the  tra- 
ditional rule  about  Sabbath  observance. 

Further,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  Dr.  Kuenen 
could  gather  from  this  passage  that  Jeremiah  treats  the 
Sabbath  "merely  as  a  day  of  rest."  This  negative 
character  of  mere  cessation  from  work,  of  enforced 
idleness,  is  far  from  being  the  sole  feature  of  the 
Sabbath,  either  in  Jeremiah's  view  of  it,  or  as  other 
more  ancient  authorities  represent  it.  The  testimony 
of  the  passage  before  us  proves,  if  proof  were  needed, 
that  the  Sabbath  was  a  day  of  worship.  This  is 
implied  both  by  the  phrase  "  ye  shall  hallow  the  Day 
of  Rest,"  that  is,  consecrate  it  to  lahvah ;  and  by  the 
promise  that  if  the  precept  be  observed  faithfully, 
abundant  offerings  shall  flow  into  the  temple  from  all 
parts  of  the  country,  that  is,  as  the  context  seems  to 
require,  for  the  due  celebration  of  the  Sabbath  festival. 
There  is  an  intentional  contrast  between  the  bringing 
of  innumerable  victims,  and  "  bearing  burdens  "  of  flour 
and  oil  and  incense  on  the  Sabbath,  for  the  joyful 
service  of  the  temple,  including  the  festal  mea>  of  the 
worshippers,  and  that  other  carriage  of  goods  for 
merely  secular  objects.  And  as  the  wealth  of  the 
Jerusalem  priesthood  chiefly  depended  upon  the  abund- 

24 


370  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

ance  of  the  sacrifices,  it  may  be  supposed  that  Jeremiah 
thus  gives  them  a  hint  that  it  is  really  their  interest 
to  encourage  the  observance  of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath. 
For  if  men  v^^ere  busy  with  their  buying  and  selling, 
their  making  and  mending,  upon  the  seventh  as  on 
other  days,  they  would  have  no  more  time  or  inclina- 
tion for  religious  duties,  than  the  Sunday  traders  of 
our  large  towns  have  under  the  vastly  changed  con- 
ditions of  the  present  day.  Moreover,  the  teaching  of 
our  prophet  in  this  matter  takes  for  granted  that  of  his 
predecessors,  with  whose  writings  he  was  thoroughly 
acquainted.  If  in  this  passage  he  does  not  expressly 
designate  the  Sabbath  as  a  religious  festival,  it  is 
because  it  seemed  needless  to  state  a  thing  so  obvious, 
so  generally  recognised  in  theory,  however  loosely 
observed  in  practice.  The  elder  prophets  Hosea, 
Amos,  Isaiah,  associate  Sabbath  and  new  moon  together 
as  days  of  festal  rejoicing,  when  men  appeared  before 
lahvah,  that  is,  repaired  to  the  sanctuary  for  worship 
and  sacrifice  (Hos.  ii.  ii;  Isa.  i.  11-14),  and  when 
all  ordinary  business  was  consequently  suspended 
(Amos  viii.  5). 

It  is  clear,  then,  from  this  important  passage  of 
Jeremiah  that  in  his  time  and  by  himself  the  Sabbath 
was  still  regarded  under  the  double  aspect  of  a  religious 
feast  and  a  day  of  cessation  from  labour,  the  latter 
being,  as  in  the  ancient  world  generally,  a  natural 
consequence  of  the  former  characteristic.  Whether 
the  abolition  of  the  local  sanctuaries  in  the  eighteenth 
year  of  Josiah  resulted  in  any  practical  modification  of 
the  conception  of  the  Sabbath,  so  that,  in  the  words 
of  Professor  Robertson  Smith,  "it  became  for  most 
Israelites  an  institution  of  humanity  divorced  from 
ritual,"  is  rendered  doubtful  by  the  following  considera- 


xvii  19-27.]        THE  SAB  BATH- A    WARNING.  371 

< 

tions.  The  period  between  the  reform  of  Josiah  and 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem  was  very  brief,  including  not  more 
than  about  thirty-five  years  (621-586,  according  to 
Wellhausen).  But  that  a  reaction  followed  the  disas- 
trous end  of  the  royal  Reformer,  is  both  likely  under 
the  circumstances,  and  implied  by  the  express  asser- 
tions of  the  author  of  Kings,  who  declares  of  the  suc- 
ceeding monarchs  that  they  *'  did  evil  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord  according  to  all  that  their  fathers  had  done." 
As  Wellhausen  writes :  "  the  battle  of  Megiddo  had 
sho^vn  that  in  spite  of  the  covenant  with  Jehovah  the 
possibilities  of  non-success  in  war  remained  the  same 
as  before"  :  so  at  least  it  would  appear  to  the  unspiritual 
mind  of  a  populace,  still  hankering  after  the  old  forms 
of  local  worship,  with  their  careless  connivance  at  riot 
and  disorder.  It  is  not  probable  that  a  rapacious  and 
bloody  tyrant,  like  Jehoiakim,  would  evince  more  tender- 
ness for  the  ritual  laws  than  for  the  moral  precepts  of 
Deuteronomy.  It  is  likely,  then,  that  the  worship  at 
the  local  high  places  revived  during  this  and  the  follow- 
ing reigns,  just  as  it  had  revived  after  its  temporary 
abolition  by  Hezekiah  (2  Kings  xviii.  22).  Moreover, 
it  is  with  Judah,  not  ruined  and  depopulated  Israel, 
that  we  have  to  deal ;  and  even  in  Judah  the  people 
must  by  this  time  have  been  greatly  reduced  by  war 
and  its  attendant  evils,  so  that  Jerusalem  itself  and  its 
immediate  neighbourhood  probably  comprised  the  main 
part  of  the  population  to  which  Jeremiah  addressed 
his  discourses  during  this  period.  The  bulk  of  the 
little  nation  would,  in  fact,  naturally  concentrate  upon 
Jerusalem,  in  the  troublous  times  that  followed  the 
death  of  Josiah.  If  so,  it  is  superfluous  to  assume 
that  "  most  men  could  only  visit  the  central  altar  at 
rare  inte.^vals  "  during  these  last  decades  of  the  national 


372  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

existence.^  The  change  of  view  belongs  rather  to  the 
sixth  than  the  seventh  century,  to  Babylonia  rather 
than  to  Judea. 

The  Sabbath  observance  prescribed  by  the  old  Law, 
and  recommended  by  Jeremiah,  was  indeed  a  very 
different  thing  from  the  pedantic  and  burdensome 
obligation  which  it  afterwards  became  in  the  hands  of 
scribes  and  Pharisees.  These,  with  their  long  catalogue 
of  prohibited  works,  and  their  grotesque  methods  of 
evading  the  rigour  of  their  own  rules,  had  succeeded 
in  making  what  was  originally  a  joyous  festival  and 
day  of  rest  for  the  weary,  into  an  intolerable  interlude 
of  joyless  restraint;  when  our  Lord  reminded  them 
that  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for 
the  Sabbath  (St.  Mark  ii.  27).  Treating  the  strict  ob- 
servance of  the  day  as  an  end  in  itself,  they  forgot 
or  ignored  the  fact  that  the  oldest  forms  of  the  sacred 
Law  agreed  in  justifying  the  institution  by  religious  and 
humanitarian  considerations  (Ex.  xx.  8,  10 ;  Deut.  v. 
12).  The  difference  in  the  grounds  assigned  by  the 
different  legislations — Deuteronomy  alleging  neither 
the  Divine  Rest  of  Exodus  xx.,  nor  the  sign  of  Exodus 
xxxi.  13,  but  the  enlightened  and  enduring  motive 
*'that  thy  bondman  and  thine  handmaid  may  rest 
as  well  as  thou,"  coupled  with  the  feeling  injunction, 
**  Remember  that  thou  wast  a  bondman  in  the  land  of 
Egypt  "  (Deut.  v.  14,  15) — need  not  here  be  discussed  ; 
for  in  any  case,  the  different  motives  thus  suggested 
were  enough  to  make  it  clear  to  those  who  had  eyes 
to  see,  that  the  Sabbath  was  not  anciently  conceived 
as  an  arbitrary  institution  established  purely  for  its 
own  sake,  and  without  reference  to  ulterior  considera- 
tions of  public  benefit.      The  Book  of  the  Covenant 

*  Encycl.  Britann.y  s.v.  Sabbath,  p.  125. 


xvii.  19-27-]        THE  SABBATH— A    WARNING.  373 

affirmed  the  principle  of  Sabbath  rest  in  these  unmis- 
takable terms :  '^  Six  days  thou  mayst  do  thy  works, 
and  on  the  seventh  day  thou  shalt  leave  off,  that  thine 
ox  and  thine  ass  may  rest,  and  the  son  of  thine  hand- 
maid " — the  home-born  slave — ''  and  the  alien  may 
be  refreshed"  (Ex.  xxiii.  12),  Ht.  recover  breath,  have 
respite.  The  humane  care  of  the  lawgiver  for  the 
dumb  toilers  and  slaves  requires  no  comment ;  and  we 
have  already  noticed  the  same  spirit  of  humanity  in  the 
later  precept  of  the  Book  of  the  Law  (Deut.  v.  14,  15). 
These  older  rules,  it  will  be  observed,  are  perfectly 
general  in  their  scope,  and  forbid  not  particular  actions 
(Ex.  xvi.  23,  XXXV.  3  ;  Num.  xv.  32),  but  the  continu- 
ance of  ordinary  labour ;  prescribing  a  merciful  inter- 
mission alike  for  the  cattle  employed  in  husbandry  and 
as  beasts  of  burden,  and  for  all  classes  of  dependents. 

The  origin  of  the  Sabbath  festival  is  lost  in  obscurity. 
When  the  unknown  writer  of  Gen.  i.  so  beautifully 
connects  it  with  the  creation  of  the  world,  he  betrays 
not  only  the  belief  of  his  contemporaries  in  its  imme- 
morial antiquity,  but  also  a  true  perception  of  the  utihty 
of  the  institution,  its  perfect  adaptation  to  the  wants  of 
humanity.  He  expresses  his  sense  of  the  fact  in  the 
most  emphatic  way  possible,  by  affirming  the  Divine 
origin  of  an  institution  whose  value  to  man  is  divinely 
great;  and  by  carrying  back  that  origin  to  the  very 
beginning,  he  implies  that  the  Sabbath  was  made  for 
mankind  and  not  merely  for  Israel.  To  whom  indeed 
could  an  ancient  Jewish  writer  refer  as  the  original 
source  of  this  unique  blessing  of  a  Day  of  Rest  and 
drawing  near  to  God,  if  not  to  lahvah,  the  fountain  of 
all  things  good  ? 

That  Moses,  the  founder  of  the  nation,  gave  Israel 
the  Sabbath,  is  as  likely  as  anything  can  be.    Whether, 


374.  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

in  doing  so,  he  simply  sanctioned  an  ancient  and 
salutary  custom  (investing  it  perhaps  with  new  and 
better  associations),  dating  from  the  tribal  existence  of 
the  fathers  in  Chaldea,  or  ordered  the  matter  so  in 
purposeful  contrast  to  the  Egyptian  week  of  ten  days, 
cannot  at  present  be  determined.  The  Sabbath  of 
Israel,  both  that  of  the  prophets  and  that  of  the  scribes, 
was  an  institution  which  distinguished  the  nation  from 
all  others  in  the  period  open  to  historical  scrutiny ;  and 
with  this  knowledge  we  may  rest  content.  That  which 
made  Israel  what  it  was,  and  what  it  became  to  the 
world ;  the  total  of  the  good  which  this  people  realized, 
and  left  as  a  priceless  heritage  to  mankind  for  ever,  was 
the  outcome,  not  of  what  it  had  in  common  with  heathen 
antiquity,  but  of  what  was  peculiar  to  itself  in  ideas  and 
institutions.  We  cannot  be  too  strongly  on  our  guard 
against  assuming  external,  superficial,  and  often  acci- 
dental resemblances,  to  be  an  index  of  inward  and 
essential  likeness  and  unity.  Whatever  approximations 
may  be  established  by  modern  archaeology  between 
Israel  and  kindred  peoples,  it  will  still  be  true  that 
those  points  of  contact  do  not  explain,  though  to  the 
apprehension  of  individuals  they  may  obscure  what  is 
truly  characteristic  of  Israel,  and  what  alone  gives  that 
nation  its  imperishable  significance  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  After  all  deductions  made  upon  such  grounds, 
nothing  can  aboHsh  the  force  of  the  fact  that  Moses  and 
the  prophets  do  not  belong  to  Moab,  Ammon,  or  Edom ; 
that  the  Old  Testament,  though  written  in  the  language 
of  Canaan,  is  not  a  monument  of  Canaanite  but  of 
Israelite  faith ;  that  the  Christ  did  not  spring  out  of 
Babylon  or  Egypt,  and  that  Christianity  is  not  explic- 
able as  the  last  development  of  Accadian  magic  or 
Egyptian  animal  worship. 


xvii.  19-27.]        THE  SABBATH— A    WARNING,  375 

To  those  who  believe  that  the  prophets  enjoyed  a 
higher  and  less  fallible  guidance  than  human  fancy, 
reflexion,  experience ;  who  recognise  in  the  general 
aim  and  effect  of  their  teaching,  as  contrasted  with  that 
of  other  teachers,  the  best  proof  that  their  minds  were 
subject  to  an  influence  and  a  spirit  transcending  the 
common  limits  of  humanity ;  the  prominence  given  by 
Jeremiah  to  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  will  be  sufficient 
evidence  of  the  importance  of  that  law  to  the  welfare  of 
his  contemporaries,  if  not  of  all  subsequent  generations. 
If  we  have  rightly  assigned  the  piece  to  the  reign  of 
Jehoiachin,  we  may  suppose  that  among  the  contrary 
currents  which  agitated  the  national  life  at  that  crisis, 
there  were  indications  of  repentance  and  remorse  at  the 
misdoings  of  the  late  reign.  The  present  utterance  of 
the  prophet  might  then  be  regarded  as  a  test  of  the 
degree  and  worth  of  the  revulsion  of  popular  feeling 
towards  the  God  of  the  Fathers.  The  nation  was 
trembling  for  its  existence ;  and  Jeremiah  met  its  fears, 
by  pointing  out  the  path  of  safety.  Here  was  one 
special  precept  hitherto '  but  little  observed.  Would 
they  keep  it  now  and  henceforth,  in  token  of  a  genuine 
obedience  ?  Repentance  in  general  terms  is  never 
difficult.  The  rub  is  conduct.  Recognition  of  the 
Divine  Law  is  easy,  so  long  as  life  is  not  submitted 
to  its  control.  The  prophet  thus  proposes,  in  a  single 
familiar  instance,  a  plain  test  of  sincerity,  which  is 
perhaps  not  less  appHcable  in  our  own  day  than  it  was 
then. 

The  wording  of  the  final  threat  suggests  a  thought 
of  solemn  consequence  for  ourselves.  "  I  will  kindle 
a  fire  in  her  gates,  and  it  shall  devour  the  castles  of 
Jerusalem — and   shall  not   be  quenched  I  "     The  gates 


376  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


were  the  scene  of  Judah's  sinful  breach  of  the  Sabbath 
law,  and  in  them  her  punishment  is  to  begin.  So 
in  the  after  life  of  the  lost  those  parts  of  the  physical 
and  mental  organism  which  have  been  the  principal 
seats  of  sin,  the  means  and  instruments  of  man's  mis- 
doing, will  also  be  the  seat  of  keenest  suffering,  the 
source  and  abode  of  the  most  poignant  misery.  '*  The 
fire  that  never  shall  be  quenched  " — Jesus  has  spoken  of 
that  awful  mystery,  as  well  as  Jeremiah.  It  is  the  ever- 
kindling,  never-dying  fire  of  hopeless  and  insatiable 
desire ;  it  is  the  withering  flame  of  hatred  of  self,  when 
the  castaway  sees  with  open  eyes  what  that  self  has 
become ;  it  is  the  burning  pain  of  a  sleepless  memory  of 
the  unalterable  past ;  it  is  the  piercing  sense  of  a  life 
flung  recklessly  to  ruin  ;  it  is  the  scorching  shame,  the 
scathing  self-contempt,  the  quenchless,  raging  thirst  for 
deliverance  from  ourselves ;  it  is  the  fearful  conscious- 
ness of  self-destruction,  branded  upon  the  soul  for  ever 
and  ever  1 


XI. 

THE  DIVINE  POTTER, 
Jeremiah  xviii. 

JEREMIAH  goes  down  into  the  Lower  Town,  or  the 
valley  between  the  upper  and  lower  city ;  and 
there  his  attention  is  arrested  by  a  potter  sitting  at 
work  before  his  wheel.  As  the  prophet  watches,  a 
vessel  is  spoiled  in  the  making  under  the  craftsman's 
hand;  so  the  process  begins  afresh,  and  out  of  the 
same  lump  of  clay  another  vessel  is  moulded,  accord- 
ing to  the  potter's  fancy. 

Reflecting  upon  what  he  had  seen,  Jeremiah  recog- 
nised a  Divine  Word  alike  in  the  impulse  which  led 
him  thither,  and  in  the  familiar  actions  of  the  potter. 
Perhaps  as  he  sat  meditating  at  home,  or  praying  in 
the  court  of  the  temple,  the  thought  had  crossed  his 
mind  that  lahvah  was  the  Potter,  and  mankind  the 
clay  in  His  hands;  a  thought  which  recurs  so  often 
in  the  eloquent  pages  of  the  second  Isaiah,  who  was 
doubtless  indebted  to  the  present  oracle  for  the  sug- 
gestion of  it.  Musing  upon  this  thought,  Jeremiah 
wandered  half-unconsciously  down  to  the  workshop  of 
the  potter;  and  there,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  his  thought  developed  itself  into  a  lesson 
for  his  people  and  for  us. 

Cannot  I  do  unto  you   like  this  potter,   O  house  of 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


Israel  ?  saith  lahvah ;  Behold,  as  the  clay  in  the 
patterns  hand,  so  are  ye  in  My  hand,  O  house  of 
Israel.  lahvah  has  an  absolute  control  over  His 
people  and  over  all  peoples,  to  shape  their  condition 
and  to  alter  their  destiny ;  a  control  as  absolute  as  that 
of  the  potter  over  the  clay  between  his  hands,  which 
he  moulds  and  remoulds  at  will.  Men  are  wholly 
malleable  in  the  hands  of  their  Maker;  incapable,  by 
the  nature  of  things,  of  any  real  resistance  to  His  pur- 
pose. If  the  first  intention  of  the  potter  fail  in  the 
execution,  he  does  not  fail  to  realize  his  plan  on  a 
second  trial.  And  if  man's  nature  and  circumstances 
appear  for  a  time  to  thwart  the  Maker's  design ;  if  the 
unyielding  pride  and  intractable  temper  of  a  nation  mar 
its  beauty  and  worth  in  the  eyes  of  its  Creator,  and 
render  it  unfit  for  its  destined  uses  and  functions ;  He 
can  take  away  the  form  He  has  given,  and  reduce  His 
work  to  shapelessness,  and  remodel  the  ruined  mass 
into  accordance  with  His  sovereign  design.  lahvah, 
the  supreme  Author  of  all  existence,  can  do  this.  It  is 
evident  that  the  Creator  can  do  as  He  will  with  His 
creature.  But  all  His  dealings  with  man  are  conditioned 
by  moral  considerations.  He  meddles  with  no  nation 
capriciously,  and  irrespective  of  its  attitude  towards 
His  laws.  At  one  moment  I  threaten  a  nation  and  a 
kingdom  that  I  will  uproot  and  pull  down  and  destroy. 
And  that  nation  which  I  threatened  returneth  from  its 
evil,  and  I  repent  of  the  evil  that  I  purposed  to  do  it. 
And  at  another  moment,  I  promise  a  nation  and  a 
kingdom  that  I  will  build  and  plant.  And  it  doeth  the 
Evil  in  Mine  eyes,  in  not  hearkening  unto  My  voice; 
and  I  repent  of  the  good  that  I  said  I  would  do  it 
(vv.  7-10). 

This  is  a  bold   affirmation,  impressive  in  its  naked 


xviii.]  THE  DIVINE  POTTER.  379 

simplicity  and  directness  of  statement,  of  a  truth  which 
in  all  ages  has  taken  possession  of  minds  at  all  capable 
of  a  comprehensive  survey  of  national  experience ;  the 
truth  that  there  is  a  power  revealing  itself  in  the 
changes  and  chances  of  human  history,  shaping  its 
course,  and  giving  it  a  certain  definite  direction,  not 
without  regard  to  the  eternal  principles  of  morality. 
When  in  some  unexpected  calamity  which  strikes 
down  an  individual  sinner,  men  recognise  a  ''judg- 
ment" or  an  instance  of  "the  visitation  of  God,"  they 
infringe  the  rule  of  Christian  charity,  which  forbids  us 
to  judge  our  brethren.  Yet  such  judgment,  liable  as  it 
is  to  be  too  readily  suggested  by  private  ill-will,  envy 
and  other  evil  passions,  which  warp  the  even  justice 
that  should  guide  our  decisions,  and  blind  the  mind  to 
its  own  lack  of  impartiality,  is  in  general  the  perversion 
of  a  true  instinct  which  persists  in  spite  of  all  scientific 
sophistries  and  philosophic  fallacies.  For  it  is  an 
irrepressible  instinct  rather  than  a  reasoned  opinion 
which  makes  us  all  believe,  however  inconsistently  and 
vaguely,  that  God  rules ;  that  Providence  asserts  itself 
in  the  stream  of  circumstance,  in  the  current  of  human 
affairs.  The  native  strength  of  this  instinctive  belief  is 
shewn  by  its  survival  in  minds  that  have  long  since 
cast  off  allegiance  to  religious  creeds.  It  only  needs 
a  sudden  sense  of  personal  danger,  the  sharp  shock 
of  a  serious  accident,  the  foreboding  of  bitter  loss,  the 
unexpected  but  utter  overthrow  of  some  well-laid 
scheme  that  seemed  assured  of  success,  to  stir  the  faith 
that  is  latent  in  the  depths  of  the  most  callous  and 
worldly  heart,  and  to  force  the  acknowledgment  of  a 
righteous  Judge  enthroned  above. 

Compared  with  the  mysterious  Power  which  evinces 
itself  continuously  in  the  apparent  chaos  of  conflicting 


380  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

events,  man's  free  will  is  like  the  eddy  whirling  round 
upon  the  bosom  of  a  majestic  river  as  it  floats  irresis- 
tibly onward  to  its  goal,  bearing  the  tiny  vortex  along 
with  it.  Man's  power  of  self-determination  no  more 
interferes  with  the  counsels  of  Providence  than  the 
diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis  interferes 
with  its  annual  revolution  round  the  sun.  The  greater 
comprises  the  less  ;  and  God  includes  the  world. 

The  Creator  has  implanted  in  the  creature  a  power  of 
choice  between  good  and  evil,  which  is  a  pale  reflexion 
of  His  own  tremendous  Being.  But  how  can  we  even 
imagine  the  dependent,  the'  limited,  the  finite,  acting 
independently  of  the  will  of  the  Absolute  and  Infinite  ? 
The  fish  may  swim  against  the  ocean  current ;  but  can 
it  swim  at  all  out  of  the  ocean  ?  Its  entire  activity 
depends  upon  the  medium  in  which  it  lives  and  moves 
and  has  its  being. 

But  Jeremiah  exposes  the  secret  of  Providence  to  the 
eyes  of  his  fellow-countrymen  for  a  particular  purpose. 
His  aim  is  to  eradicate  certain  prevalent  misconceptions, 
so  as  to  enable  them  to  rightly  apprehend  the  meaning 
of  God's  present  dealings  with  themselves.  The  popular 
belief  was  that  Zion  was  an  inviolable  sanctuary;  that 
whatever  disasters  might  have  befallen  the  nation  in 
the  past,  or  might  be  imminent  in  the  future,  lahvah 
could  not,  for  His  own  sake,  permit  the  extinction  of 
Judah  as  a  nation.  For  then  His  worship,  the  worship 
of  the  temple,  the  sacrifices  of  the  one  altar,  would  be 
abolished  ;  and  His  honour  and  His  Name  would  be 
forgotten  among  men.  These  were  the  thoughts  which 
comforted  them  in  the  trying  time  when  a  thousand 
rumours  of  the  coming  of  the  Chaldeans  to  punish  their 
revolt  were  flying  about  the  land ;  and  from  day  to  day 
men  lived  in  trembling  expectation  of  impending  siege 


xviii.]  THE  DiriNE  POTTER.  381 

and  slaughter.  These  were  the  beliefs  which  the 
popular  prophets,  themselves  probably  in  most  cases 
fanatical  believers  in  their  own  doctrine,  vehemently 
maintained  in  opposition  to  Jeremiah.  Above  all,  there 
was  the  covenant  between  lahvah  and  His  people, 
admitted  as  a  fact  both  by  Jeremiah  and  his  opponents. 
Was  it  conceivable  that  the  God  of  the  Fathers,  who 
had  chosen  them  and  their  posterity  to  be  His  people 
for  ever,  would  turn  from  His  purpose,  and  reject  His 
chosen  utterly  ? 

Jeremiah  meets  these  popular  illusions  by  applying 
his  analogy  of  the  potter.  The  potter  fashions  a  mass 
of  clay  into  a  vessel ;  and  lahvah  had  fashioned  Israel 
into  a  nation.  But  as  though  the  mass  of  inert  matter 
had  proven  unwieldy  or  stubborn  to  the  touches  of  his 
plastic  hands;  as  the  wheel  revolved,  a  misshapen 
product  resulted,  which  the  artist  broke  up  again,  and 
moulded  afresh  on  his  wheel,  till  it  emerged  a  fair  copy 
of  his  ideal.  And  so,  in  the  revolutions  of  time,  Israel 
had  failed  of  realizing  the  design  of  his  Maker,  and  had 
become  a  vessel  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction.  But 
as  the  rebellious  lump  was  fashioned  again  by  the  deft 
hand  of  the  master,  so  might  this  refractory  people  be 
broken  and  built  up  anew  by  the  Divine  master  hand. 

In  the  light  of  this  analogy,  the  prophet  interprets 
the  existing  complications  of  the  political  world.  The 
serious  dangers  impending  over  the  nation  are  a  sure 
symptom  that  the  Divine  Potter  is  at  work,  "moulding" 
an  evil  fate  for  Judah  and  Jerusalem.  "And  now 
prithee  say  unto  the  men  of  Judah  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Jerusalem : 

«*Thus  hath  lahvah  said, 
Behold  I  am  moulding  evil  against  you, 
And  devising  a  device  against  you  I " 


382  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

i  But  lahvah's  menaces  are  not  the  mere  vent  of  a 
tyrant's  caprice  or  causeless  anger:  they  are  a  deliberate 
effort  to  break  the  hard  heart,  to  reduce  it  to  contrition, 
to  prepare  it  for  a  new  creation  in  a  more  glorious  like- 
ness.    Therefore  the  threat  closes  with  an  entreaty  : 

"  Return  ye,  I  pray  you,  each  from  his  evil  way, 
And  make  good  your  ways  and  your  doings  1 " 

If  the  prophetic  warning  fulfil  its  purpose,  and  the 
nation  repent,  then  as  in  the  case  of  Nineveh,  which 
repented  at  the  preaching  of  Jonah,  the  sentence  of 
destruction  is  revoked,  and  the  doomed  nation  is 
granted  a  new  lease  of  life.  The  same  truth  holds  good 
reversely.  God's  promises  are  as  conditional  as  His 
threats.  If  a  nation  lapse  from  original  righteousness, 
the  sure  consequence  is  the  withdrawal  of  Divine 
favour,  and  all  of  blessing  and  permanence  that  it 
confers.  It  is  evident  that  the  prophet  directly  con- 
tradicts the  popular  persuasion,  which  was  also  the 
current  teaching  of  his  professional  opponents,  that 
lahvah's  promises  to  Israel  are  absolute,  that  is, 
irrespective  of  moral  considerations.  Jeremiah  is 
revealing,  in  terms  suited  to  the  intelligence  of  his 
time,  the  true  law  of  the  Divine  dealings  with  Israel 
and  with  man.  And  what  he  has  here  written,  it  is 
important  to  bear  in  mind,  when  we  are  studying  other 
passages  of  his  writings  and  those  of  his  predecessors, 
which  foreshow  judgments  and  mercies  to  individual 
peoples.  However  absolute  the  language  of  prediction, 
the  qualification  here  supplied  must  usually  be  under- 
stood ;  so  that  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  this 
remarkable  utterance  is  one  of  the  keys  to  the  com- 
prehension of  Hebrew  prophecy. 

But  now,  allowing  for  antique  phraseology,  and  for 


xviu.]  THE  DIVINE  POTTER.  383 

the  immense  difference  between  ancient  and  modern 
modes  of  thought  and  expression;  allowing  also  for 
the  new  light  shed  upon  the  problems  of  life  and 
history  by  the  teaching  of  Him  who  has  supplemented 
all  that  was  incomplete  in  the  doctrine  of  the  prophets 
and  the  revelation  granted  to  the  men  of  the  elder 
dispensation  ;  must  we  pronounce  this  oracle  of  Jere- 
miah's substantially  true  or  the  contrary  ?  Is  the  view 
thus  formulated  an  obsolete  opinion,  excusable  in  days 
when  scientific  thinking  was  unknown;  useful  indeed 
for  the  furtherance  of  the  immediate  aims  of  its  authors, 
but  now  to  be  rejected  wholly  as  a  profound  mistake, 
which  modern  enlightenment  has  at  once  exposed  and 
rendered  superfluous  to  an  intelligent  faith  in  the  God 
of  the  prophets  ? 

Here  and  everywhere  else,  Jeremiah's  language  is 
in  form  highly  anthropomorphic.  If  it  was  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  the  multitude,  it  could  not  well  have 
been  otherwise.  He  seems  to  say  that  God  changes 
His  intentions,  according  as  a  nation  changes  its  be- 
haviour. Something  must  be  allowed  for  style,  in  a 
writer  whose  very  prose  is  more  than  half  poetry,  and 
whose  utterances  are  so  often  lyrical  in  form  as  well 
as  matter.  The  Israelite  thinkers,  however,  were  also 
well  aware  that  the  Eternal  is  superior  to  change ;  as 
is  clear  from  that  striking  word  of  Samuel :  ^'  The  Glory 
of  Israel  lieth  not  nor  repenteth  ;  for  He  is  not  man,  that 
He  should  repent"  (i  Sam.  xv.  29).  And  prophetic 
passages  Hke  that  in  Kings,  which  so  nobly  declares 
that  the  heaven  and  the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  con- 
tain God  (cf  Jer.  xxiii.  24),  or  that  of  the  second  Isaiah 
which  affirms  that  the  Divine  ways  and  purposes  are  as 
much  higher  than  those  of  His  people,  as  the  heavens  are 
higher  than  the  earth  (Isa.  Iv.  9),  prove  that  the  vivid 


384  THE  PROPHECIES  OP  JEREMIAH. 

anthropomorphic  expressions  of  the  popular  teaching 
of  the  prophets  ought  in  mere  justice  to  be  limited 
by  these  wider  conceptions  of  the  Divine  Nature  and 
attributes.  These  passages  are  quite  enough  to  clear 
the  prophets  of  the  accusation  of  entertaining  such 
gross  and  crude  ideas  of  Deity  as  those  which  Xeno- 
phanes  ridiculed,  and  which  find  their  embodiment  in 
most  mythologies. 

There  is  indeed  a  sense  in  which  all  thinking,  not 
only  thought  about  God,  but  about  the  natural  world, 
must  be  anthropomorphic.  Man  is  unquestionably 
"  the  measure  of  all  things,"  and  he  measures  by  a 
human  standard.  He  interprets  the  world  without  in 
terms  of  his  own  consciousness ;  he  imposes  the  forms 
and  moulds  of  his  own  mind  upon  the  universal  mass 
of  things.  Time,  space,  matter,  motion,  number, 
weight,  organ,  function, — what  are  all  these  but  inward 
conceptions  by  which  the  mind  reduces  a  chaos  of 
conflicting  impressions  to  order  and  harmony  ?  What 
the  external  world  may  be,  apart  from  our  ideas  of  it, 
no  philosopher  pretends  to  be  able  to  say ;  and  an 
equal  difficulty  embarrasses  those  who  would  define 
what  the  Deity  is,  apart  from  His  relations  to  man. 
But  then  it  is  only  those  relations  that  really  concern 
us ;  everything  else  is  idle  speculation,  little  becoming 
to  creatures  so  frail  and  ephemeral  as  we. 

From  this  point  of  view,  we  may  fairly  ask,  what 
difference  it  makes  whether  the  prophet  affirm  that 
lahvah  repents  of  retributive  designs,  when  a  nation 
repents  of  its  sins,  or  that  a  nation's  repentance  will 
be  followed  by  the  restoration  of  temporal  prosperity. 
It  is  a  mere  matter  of  statement ;  and  the  former  way 
of  putting  the  truth  was  the  more  intelligible  way  to 
his  contemporaries,  and  has,  besides,  the   advantage 


xviii.]  THE   DIVINE  POTTER.  385 

of  implying  the  further  truth  that  the  fortunes  of 
nations  do  not  depend  upon  a  bhnd  and  inexorable 
fate,  but  upon  the  Will  and  Law  of  a  holy  God.  It 
affirms  a  Lawmaker  as  well  as  a  Law,  a  Providence  as 
well  as  an  uniform  sequence  of  events. 

The  prophet  asserts,  then,  that  nations  reap  what 
they  have  sown  ;  that  their  history  is,  in  general,  a 
record  of  God's  judgments  upon  their  ways  and  doings. 
This  is,  of  course,  a  matter  of  faith,  as  are  all  beliefs 
about  the  Unseen ;  but  it  is  a  faith  which  has  its  root 
in  an  apparently  ineradicable  instirFct  of  humanity. 
ApaaavTi  iraOelv,  "The  doer  must  suffer,"  is  not  a 
conviction  of  Hebrew  religion  only  ;  it  belongs  to  the 
universal  religious  consciousness.  Some  critics  are 
fond  of  pronouncing  the  ''policy"  of  the  prophets  a 
mistaken  one.  They  commend  the  high  tone  of  their 
moral  teachings,  but  consider  their  forecasts  of  the 
future  and  interpretations  of  passing  events,  as 
erroneous  deductions  from  their  general  views  of  the 
Divine  nature.  We  are  not  well  acquainted  with  the 
times  and  circumstances  under  which  the  prophets 
wrote  and  spoke.  This  is  true  even  in  the  case  of 
Jeremiah  ;  the  history  of  the  time  exists  only  in  the 
barest  outHne.  But  the  writings  of  an  Isaiah  or  an 
Amos  make  it  difficult  to  suppose  that  their  authors 
would  not  have  occupied  a  leading  position  in  any  age 
and  nation  ;  their  thought  is  the  highest  product  of 
the  Hebrew  mind  ;  and  the  poHcy  of  Isaiah  at  least, 
during  the  Assyrian  crisis,  was  gloriously  justified  by 
the  event. 

We  need  not,  however,  stop  here  in  attempting  to 
vindicate  the  attitude  and  aims  of  the  prophets.  With- 
out claiming  infallibihty  for  every  individual  utterance 
of  theirs — without  displaying  the  bad  taste  and  entire 

25 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 


lack  of  literary  tact  which  would  be  implied  by  insist- 
ing upon  the  minute  accuracy  and  close  correspondence 
to  fact,  of  all  that  the  prophets  foreboded,  all  that  they 
suggested  as  possible  or  probable,  and  by  turning  all 
their  poetical  figures  and  similes  into  bald  assertions 
of  Hteral  fact ;  we  may,  I  think,  steadfastly  affirm  that 
the  great  principles  of  revealed  religion,  which  it  was 
their  mission  to  enunciate  and  impress  by  all  the 
resources  of  a  fervid  oratory  and  a  high-wrought 
poetical  imagination,  are  absolutely  and  eternally  true. 
Man  does  reap  as  he  sows ;  all  history  records  it.  The 
present  welfare  and  future  permanence  of  a  nation  do 
depend,  and  have  always  depended,  upon  the  strength 
of  its  adhesion  to  religious  and  moral  convictions. 
What  was  it  that  enabled  Israel  to  gain  a  footing  in 
Canaan,  and  to  reduce,  one  after  another,  nations  and 
communities  far  more  advanced  in  the  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion than  they  ?  What  but  the  physical  and  moral 
force  generated  by  the  hardy  and  simple  life  of  the 
desert,  and  disciplined  by  wise  obedience  to  the  laws 
of  their  Invisible  King  ?  What  but  a  burning  faith  in 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  lahvah  Sabaoth,  the  true  Leader 
of  the  armies  of  Israel  ?  Had  they  only  remained 
uncontaminated  by  the  luxuries  and  vices  of  the  con- 
quered races;  had  they  not  yielded  to  the  soft  seduction 
of  sensuous  forms  of  worship ;  had  they  continued 
faithful  to  the  God  who  had  brought  them  out  of  Egypt, 
and  lived,  on  the  whole,  by  the  teaching  of  the  true 
prophets;  who  can  say  that  they  might  not  have 
successfully  withstood  the  brunt  of  Assyrian  or 
Chaldean  invasion? 

The  disruption  of  the  kingdom,  the  internecine 
conflicts,  the  dynastic  revolutions,  the  entanglements 
with    foreign    powers     which    mark    the    progressive 


xviii.]  'I HE  DIVINE  POTTER.  387 

decline  of  the  empire  of  David  and  Solomon,  would 
hardly  have  found  place  in  a  nation  that  steadily  lived 
by  the  rule  of  the  prophets,  clinging  to  lahvah  and 
lahvah  only,  and  "doing  justice  and  loving  mercy" 
in  all  the  relations  of  life.  The  gradual  differentiation 
of  the  idea  of  lahvah  into  a  multitude  of  Baals  at  the 
local  sanctuaries  must  have  powerfully  tended  to  disin- 
tegrate the  national  unity.  Solomon's  temple  and  the 
recognition  of  the  one  God  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  as 
supreme,  which  that  religious  centre  implied,  was,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  real  bond  of  union  for  the  nation. 
We  cannot  forget  that,  at  the  outset  of  the  whole 
history,  Moses  created  or  resuscitated  the  sense  of 
national  unity  in  the  hearts  of  the  Egyptian  serfs,  by 
proclaiming  to  them  lahvah,  the  God  of  their  fathers. 
It  is  a  one-sided  representation  which  treats  the  policy 
of  the  prophets  as  purely  negative ;  as  confined  to  the 
prohibition  of  leagues  with  the  foreigner,  and  the  con- 
demnation of  walls  and  battlements,  chariots  and  horses, 
and  all  the  elements  of  social  strength  and  display. 
The  prophets  condemn  these  things,  regarded  as  sub- 
stitutes for  trust  in  the  One  God,  and  faithful  obedience 
to  His  laws.  They  condemn  the  man  who  puts  his 
confidence  in  man,  and  makes  flesh  his  arm,  and  forgets 
the  only  true  source  of  strength  and  protection.  To 
those  who  allege  that  the  policy  of  the  prophets  was  a 
failure,  we  may  reply  that  it  never  had  a  full  and  fair 
trial. 


And  they  will  say,  Hopeless !  for  we  will  follow  after  our  own 
devices,  and  will  each  practise  the  stubbornness  of  his  own  evil 
heart.     Therefore  thus  hath  lahvah  said: 

I.  "Ask  ye  now  among  the  heathen, 
Who  hath  heard  the  like  ? 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 


The  virgin  (daughter)  of  Israel 
Hath  done  a  very  horrible  thing. 

2.  "  Doth  the  snow  of  Lebanon  cease 

From  overflowing  the  field? 
Do  the  running  waters  dry  up, 
The  icy  streams  ?  ^ 

3.  "  For  My  people  have  forgotten  me, 

To  vain  things  they  burn  incense ; 

And  they  have  made  them  stumble  in  their  ways,  the  ancient 

paths, 
To  walk  in  bypaths,  a  way  not  cast  up : 

4.  "  To  make  their  land  a  desolation, 

Perpetual  hissings ; 

Every  one  that  passeth  her  by  shall  be  amazed, 

And  shall  shake  his  head. 

5.  "  Like  an  east  wind  will  I  scatter  them 

In  the  face  of  the  foe ; 

The  back  and  not  the  face  will  I  shew  them, 

In  the  day  of  their  overthrow." 

God  foresees  that  His  gracious  warning  will  be 
rejected  as  heretofore ;  the  prophet's  hearers  will  cry 
"  It  is  hopeless  ! "  thy  appeal  is  in  vain,  thine  enterprise 
desperate ;  "  for  after  our  own  devices "  or  thoughts 
"  will  we  walk,"  not  after  thine,  though  thou  urge  them 
as  lahvah's  ;  '*  and  we  will  each  practise  the  stubbornness 
of  his  own  evil  heart " — this  last  in  a  tone  of  irony,  as  if 
to  say,  Very  well ;  we  accept  thy  description  of  us ;  our 
ways  are  stubborn,  and  our  hearts  evil :  we  will  abide 
by  our  character,  and  stand  true  to  your  unflattering 
portrait.     Otherwise,  the  words   may  be  regarded    as 

'  Instead  of  ^t^  "I"1V»  "  from  the  rock  of  the  field,"  I  have  ventured 
to  read  HEJ*  P]"lVJO  (Lam.  iii.  54;  Deut.  xi.  4;  2  Kings  vi.  6).  For 
VJ*ni^  "plucked  up"  "uprooted,"  which  is  inappropriate  in  connexion 
with  water,  Schnurrer's  "IflCO''  "dried  up  "  (Isa.  xix.  5  ;  Jer.  li.  30),  is 
probably  right.  In  the  second  couplet,  I  read  D''3T  for  DHT,  which 
is  meaningless,  and  transpose  D"'"1p  with  D  vT13. 


xviii.]  THE  DIVINE  POTTER.  389 

giving  the  substance  of  the  popular  reply,  in  terms 
which  at  the  same  time  convey  the  Divine  condem- 
nation of  it ;  but  the  former  view  seems  preferable. 

God  foresees  the  obstinacy  of  the  people,  and  yet  the 
prophet  does  not  cease  his  preaching.  A  cynical 
assent  to  his  invective  only  provokes  him  to  more 
strenuous  endeavours  to  convince  them  that  they  are 
in  the  wrong;  that  their  behaviour  is  against  reason 
and  nature.  Once  more  (ii.  10  sqq?)  he  strives  to 
shame  them  into  remorse  by  contrasting  their  conduct 
with  that  of  other  nations.  These  were  faithful  to 
their  own  gods ;  among  them  such  a  crime  as  national 
apostasy  was  unheard  of  and  unknown.  It  was 
reserved  for  Israel  to  give  the  first  example  of  this 
abnormal  offence ;  a  fact  as  strange  and  fearful  in  the 
moral  world,  as  some  unnatural  revolution  in  the 
physical  sphere.  That  Israel  should  forget  his  duty  to 
lahvah  was  as  great  and  inexplicable  a  portent,  as  if 
the  perennial  snows  of  the  Lebanon  should  cease  to 
supply  the  rivers  of  the  land;  or  as  if  the  ice-cold 
streams  of  its  glens  and  gorges  should  suddenly  cease 
to  flow.  And  certainly,  when  we  look  at  the  matter 
with  the  eye  of  calm  reason,  the  prophet  cannot  be  said 
to  have  here  exaggerated  the  mystery  of  sin.  For, 
however  strong  the  temptation  that  lures  man  from 
the  path  of  duty,  however  occasion  may  suggest,  and 
passion  urge,  and  desire  yearn,  these  influences  cannot 
of  themselves  silence  conscience,  and  obliterate  expe- 
rience, and  overpower  judgment,  and  defeat  reason. 
As  surely  as  it  is  possible  to  know  anything,  man 
knows  that  his  vital  interests  coincide  with  duty ;  and 
that  it  is  not  only  weak  but  absolutely  irrational  to 
sacrifice  duty  to  the  importunities  of  appetite. 

When  man   forsakes  the  true  God,  it  is  to  ''burn 


390  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

incense  to  vain  gods"  or  things  of  nought.  He  who 
worships  what  is  less  than  God,  worships  nothing.  No 
being  below  God  can  yield  any  true  satisfaction  to 
that  human  nature  which  was  made  for  God.  The  man 
who  fixes  his  hope  upon  things  that  perish  in  the  using, 
the  man  who  seeks  happiness  in  things  material,  the 
man  whose  affections  have  sole  regard  to  the  joys  of 
sense,  and  whose  devotion  is  given  wholly  to  worldly 
objects,  is  the  man  who  will  at  the  last  cry  out,  in 
hopeless  disappointment  and  bitterness  of  spirit.  Vanity 
of  vanities !  all  is  vanity !  ^'  For  what  shall  it  profit 
a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his 
own  soul  ?  Or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for 
his  soul  ?  "  The  soul's  salvation  consists  in  devotion 
to  its  Lord  and  Maker;  its  eternal  loss  and  ruin,  in 
alienation  from  Him  who  is  its  true  and  only  life. 
The  false  gods  are  nought  as  regards  help  and  profit ; 
they  are  powerless  to  bless,  but  they  are  potent  to  hurt 
and  betray.  They  "  make  men  stumble  out  of  their 
ways,  out  of  the  ancient  paths,  to  walk  in  bypaths, 
in  a  way  not  cast  up."  So  it  was  of  old ;  so  it  is  now. 
When  the  heart  is  estranged  from  God,  and  devoted  to 
some  meaner  pursuit  than  the  advancement  of  His  glory, 
it  soon  deserts  the  straight  road  of  virtue,  the  highway 
of  honour,  and  falls  into  the  crooked  and  uneven  paths 
of  fraud  and  hypocrisy,  of  oppression  and  vice.  The  end 
appears  to  sanctify  the  means,  or  at  least  to  make  them 
tolerable ;  and,  once  the  ancient  path  of  the  Law  is 
forsaken,  men  will  follow  the  most  tortuous,  and  often 
thorny  and  painful  courses,  to  the  goal  of  their  choice. 
The  path  which  leads  away  from  God,  leads  both 
individuals  and  nations  to  final  ruin.  Degraded  ideas 
of  the  Deity,  false  ideas  of  happiness,  a  criminal 
indifference  to  the  welfare  of  others,  a  base  devotion  to 


xviii.]  THE  DIVINE  POTTER.  391 

private  and  wholly  selfish  ends,  must  in  the  long  run 
sap  the  vigour  of  a  nation,  and  render  it  incapable  of 
any  effectual  resistance  to  its  enemies.  Moral  declen- 
sion is  a  sure  symptom  of  approaching  political 
dissolution ;  so  sure,  that  if  a  nation  chooses  and 
persists  in  evil,  in  the  face  of  all  dissuasion,  it  may  be 
assumed  to  be  bent  on  suicide.  Like  Israel,  it  may  be 
said  to  do  thus,  "  in  order  to  make  its  land  an  astonish- 
ment, perpetual  hissings."  Men  will  be  surprised  at 
the  greatness  of  its  fall,  and  at  the  same  time  will 
acknowledge  by  voice  and  gesture  that  its  doom  is 
absolutely  just. 

So  far  as  his  immediate  hearers  were  concerned,  the 
effect  of  the  prophet's  words  was  exactly  what  had 
been  anticipated  (ver.  18;  cf.  ver.  12).  Jeremiah's 
preaching  was  a  ministry  of  hardening,  in  a  far  more 
complete  sense  than  Isaiah's  had  been.  On  the  present 
occasion,  the  popular  obduracy  and  unbelief  evinced 
itself  in  a  conspiracy  to  destroy  the  prophet  by  false 
accusation.  They  would  doubtless  find  it  not  difficult 
to  construe  his  words  as  blasphemy  against  lahvah, 
and  treason  against  the  state.  And  they  said  :  Come 
and  let  us  devise  devices — lay  a  plot — against  Jeremiah. 
Dispassionate  wisdom,  mere  worldly  prudence,  would 
have  said,  Let  us  weigh  well  the  probability  or  even 
possibility  of  the  truth  of  his  message.  Moral 
earnestness,  a  sincere  love  of  God  and  goodness, 
would  have  recognised  in  the  prophet's  fearful  earnest 
a  proof  of  good  faith,  a  claim  to  consideration.  Un- 
biassed common  sense  would  have  asked.  What  has 
Jeremiah  to  gain  by  persistence  in  unpopular  teaching  ? 
What  will  be  his  reward,  supposing  his  words  come 
true  ?  Is  it  to  be  supposed  that  a  man  whose  woeful 
tidings  are  uttered  in  a  voice  broken  with  sobs,  and 


392  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH 

interrupted  by  bursts  of  wild  lamentation,  will  look 
with  glad  eyes  upon  destruction  when  it  comes,  if  it 
come  after  all  ?  But  habitual  sin  blinds  as  well  as 
pollutes  the  soul.  And  when  admonition  is  unaccept- 
able, it  breeds  hatred.  The  heart  that  is  not  touched 
by  appeal  becomes  harder  than  it  was  before.  The 
ice  of  indifference  becomes  the  adamant  of  malignant 
opposition.  The  populace  of  Jerusalem,  like  that  of 
more  modern  capitals,  was  enervated  by  ease  and 
luxury,  altogether  given  over  to  the  pursuit  of  wealth 
and  pleasure  as  the  end  of  life.  They  hated  the  man 
who  rebuked  in  the  gate,  and  abhorred  him  that  spoke 
uprightly  (Amos  v.  lo).  They  could  not  abide  one 
whose  life  and  labours  were  a  continual  protest  against 
their  own.  And  now  he  had  done  his  best  to  rob 
them  of  their  pleasant  confidence,  to  destroy  the 
delusion  of  their  fool's  paradise.  He  had  burst  into 
the  heathenish  sanctuary  where  they  offered  a  worship 
congenial  to  their  hearts,  and  done  his  best  to  wreck 
their  idols,  and  dash  their  altars  to  the  ground.  He 
had  affirmed  that  the  accredited  oracles  were  all  a  lie, 
that  the  guides  whom  they  blindly  followed  were 
leading  them  to  ruin.  So  the  passive  dislike  of  good 
blazes  out  into  murderous  fury  against  the  good  man 
who  dares  to  be  good  alone  in  the  face  of  a  sinful 
multitude.  That  they  are  made  thoroughly  uneasy  by 
his  message  of  judgment,  that  they  are  more  than  half 
convinced  that  he  is  right,  is  plain  from  the  frantic 
passion  with  which  they  repeat  and  deny  his  words. 
Law  shall  not  perish  from  the  priesty  nor  counsel  from 
the  wise,  nor  the  word  from  the  prophet:  these  things 
cannot,  shall  not  be.  When  people  have  pinned  their 
faith  to  a  false  system — a  system  which  accords  with 
their   worldly   prejudices,    and   flatters    thdr   ungodly 


xviii.]  THE  DIVINE  POTTER.  393 

pride,  and  winks  at  or  even  sanctions  their  vices ; 
when  they  have  anchored  their  entire  confidence  upon 
certain  men  and  certain  teachings  which  are  in  perfect 
harmony  with  their  own  aims  in  life  and  their  own 
selfish  predilections,  they  are  not  only  disturbed  and 
distressed  but  often  enraged  by  a  demonstration  that 
they  are  lulled  in  a  false  security.  And  anger  of  this 
kind  is  apt  to  be  so  irrational,  that  they  may  think 
to  escape  from  the  threatened  evil  by  silencing  its 
prophet.  Come  and  let  us  smite  him  with  the  tongue^ 
and  let  us  not  hearken  to  any  of  his  words  I  They  will 
first  get  rid  of  him,  and  then  forget  his  words  of 
warning.  Their  policy  is  no  better  than  that  of  the 
bird  which  buries  its  head  in  the  sand,  when  its 
pursuers  have  run  it  down ;  an  infatuated  Out  of  sight, 
out  of  mind.  And  Jeremiah's  recompense  for  his  dis- 
interested zeal  is  another  conspiracy  against  his  fife. 

Once  more  he  lays  his  cause  before  the  one  impartial 
Judge ;  the  one  Being  who  is  exalted  above  all  passion, 
and  therefore  sees  the  truth  as  it  is. 

"  Hearken  Thou,  O  lahvah,  unto  me, 
And  hear  Thou  the  voice  of  mine  adversaries. 
Should  evil  be  recompensed  for  good  ? 
For  they  have  digged  a  pit  for  my  life. 

Remember  my  standing  before  Thee  to  speak  good  about  them, 
To  turn  back  Thy  wrath  from  them." 

Hearken  Thou,  since  they  refuse  to  hearken;  hear 
both  sides,  and  pronounce  for  the  right.  Behold  the 
glaring  contrast  between  my  innocence  of  all  hurtful 
intent,  and  their  clamorous  injustice,  between  my  truth 
and  their  falsehood,  my  prayers  for  their  salvation  and 
their  outcry  for  my  blood. 

As  we  read  this  prayer  of  Jeremiah's,  we  are 
reminded  of  the  very  similar  language  of  the  thirty-fifth 


394  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

and  hundred  and  ninth  psalms,  of  which  he  was  himself 
perhaps  the  author  (see  especially  Ps.  xxxv.  i,  4, 
5,  7,  II,  12;  cix.  2,  5).  We  have  already  partially 
considered  the  moral  aspect  of  such  petitions.  It  is 
necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  prophet  is  speaking 
of  persons  who  have  persistently  rejected  warning,  and 
ridiculed  reproof;  and  now,  in  return  for  his  interces- 
sions on  their  behalf,  are  attempting  his  life,  not  in  a 
sudden  outbreak  of  uncontrollable  fury,  but  with  craft 
and  deliberate  malice,  after  seeking,  apparently,  like 
their  spiritual  successors  in  a  later  age,  to  entrap  him 
into  admissions  that  might  be  construed  as  treason  or 
blasphemy  (Ps.  xxxv.  19-21). 

"  Therefore  give  their  sons  to  the  famine, 
And  pour  them  into  the  hands  of  the  sword ; 
And  let  their  wives  be  bereaved  and  widows, 
And  let  their  husbands  be  slain  of  Death  ; 
Let  their  young  men  be  stricken  down  of  the  sword  in  the 
battle  1 

"  Let  a  cry  be  heard  from  their  houses, 
When  Thou  bringest  a  troop  upon  them  suddenly  I 
For  they  digged  a  pit  to  catch  me, 
And  snares  they  hid  for  my  feet. 

"  But  of  Thyself,  lahvah,  Thou  knowest  all  their  plan  against 
me  for  death ; 
Pardon  Thou  not  their  iniquity, 
And  blot  not  out  their  trespass  from  before  Thee ; 
But  let  them  be  made  to  stumble  before  Thee, 
In  the  time  of  Thine  anger  deal  Thou  with  them  I  *  ** 

The  passage  is  lyrical  in  form  and  expression,  and 
something  must  be  allowed  for  the  fact  in  estimating 
its  precise  significance.  Jeremiah  had  entreated  God 
and  man  that  all  these  things  might  not  come  to  pass. 
Now,  when  the  attitude  of  the  people  towards  his 
message  and  himself  at  last  leaves  no  doubt  that  their 


xviii.]  THE  DIVINE  POTTER.  395 

obduracy  is  invincible,  in  his  despair  and  distraction 
he  cries,  Be  it  so,  then  !  They  are  bent  on  destruction  ; 
let  them  have  their  will !  Let  the  doom  overtake  them, 
that  I  have  laboured  in  vain  to  avert !  With  a  weary 
sigh,  and  a  profound  sense  of  the  ripeness  of  his 
country  for  ruin,  he  gives  up  the  struggle  to  save  it. 
The  passage  thus  becomes  a  rhetorical  or  poetical 
expression  of  the  prophet's  despairing  recognition  of 
the  inevitable. 

How  vivid  are  the  touches  with  which  he  brings  out 
upon  his  canvas  the  horrors  of  war!  In  language  lurid 
with  all  the  colours  of  destruction,  he  sets  before  us 
the  city  taken  by  storm,  he  makes  us  hear  the  cry  of 
the  victims,  as  house  after  house  is  visited  by  pillage 
and  slaughter.  But  stripped  of  its  poetical  form,  all 
this  is  no  more  than  a  concentrated  repetition  of  the 
sentence  which  he  has  over  and  over  again  pronounced 
against  Jerusalem  in  the  name  of  lahvah.  The  impre- 
catory manner  of  it  may  be  considered  to  be  simply  a 
solemn  signification  of  the  speaker's  own  assent  and 
approval.  He  recalls  the  sentence,  and  he  affirms  its 
perfect  consonance  with  his  own  sense  of  justice. 
Moreover  all  these  terrible  things  actually  happened  in 
the  sequel.  The  prophet's  imprecations  received  the 
Divine  seal  of  accomplishment.  This  fact  alone  seems 
to  me  to  distinguish  his  prayer  from  a  merely  human 
cry  for  vengeance.  So  far  as  his  feelings  as  a  man  and 
a  patriot  were  concerned,  we  cannot  doubt  that  he 
would  have  averted  the  catastrophe,  had  that  been 
possible,  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  life.  That  indeed 
was  the  object  of  his  entire  ministry.  We  may  call  the 
passage  an  emotional  prediction  ;  and  it  was  probably 
the  predictive  character  of  it  which  led  the  prophet  to 
put  it  on  record. 


396  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

While  we  admit  that  no  Christian  may  ordinarily 
pray  for  the  annihilation  of  any  but  spiritual  enemies, 
we  must  remember  that  no  Christian  can  possibly 
occupy  the  same  peculiar  position  as  a  prophet  of  the 
Old  Covenant ;  and  we  may  fairly  ask  whether  any 
who  may  incline  to  judge  harshly  of  Jeremiah  on  the 
ground  of  passages  like  this,  have  fully  realized  the 
appalling  circumstances  which  wrung  these  prayers 
from  his  cruelly  tortured  heart  ?  We  find  it  hard  to 
forgive  small  personal  slights,  often  less  real  than 
imaginary ;  how  should  we  comport  ourselves  to  persons 
whose  shameless  ingratitude  rewarded  evil  for  good  to 
the  extent  of  seeking  our  lives  ?  Few  would  be  content, 
as  Jeremiah  was,  with  putting  the  cause  in  the  hand 
of  God,  and  abstaining  from  all  attempts  at  personal 
vindication  of  wrongs.  It  surely  betrays  a  failure  of 
imaginative  power  to  realize  the  terrible  difficulties 
which  beset  the  path  of  one  who,  in  a  far  truer  sense 
than  Elijah,  was  left  alone  to  uphold  the  cause  of  true 
religion  in  Israel,  and  not  less,  a  very  inadequate 
knowledge  of  our  own  spiritual  weakness,  when  we  are 
bold  to  censure  or  even  to  apologise  for  the  utterances 
of  Jeremiah. 

The  whole  question  assumes  a  different  aspect,  when 
it  is  noticed  that  the  brief  '^  Thus  said  lahvah  ! "  of  the 
next  chapter  (xix.)  virtually  introduces  the  Divine 
reply  to  the  prophet's  prayer.  He  is  now  bidden  to 
foreshow  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Jewish  polity  by 
a  symbolic  act  which  is  even  more  unambiguous  than 
the  language  of  the  prayer.  He  is  to  take  a  common 
earthenware  bottle  {baqbuqy  as  if  "  pour-pour  " ;  from 
baqaq,  "  to  pour  out "),  and,  accompanied  by  some  of 
the  leading  personages  of  the  capital,  heads  of  families 
and  priests,  to  go  out  of  the  city  to  the  valley  of  ben 


L.]  THE  DIVINE  POTTER.  397 


Hinnom,  and  there,  after  a  solemn  rehearsal  of  the 
crimes  perpetrated  on  that  very  spot  in  the  name  of 
reHgion,  and  after  predicting  the  consequent  retribu- 
tion which  will  shortly  overtake  the  nation,  he  is  to 
dash  the  vessel  in  pieces  before  his  companions'  eyes, 
in  token  of  the  utter  and  irreparable  ruin  which  awaits 
their  city  and  people. 

Having  enacted  his  part  in  this  striking  scene, 
Jeremiah  returns  to  the  court  of  the  temple,  and  there 
repeats  the  same  terrible  message  in  briefer  terms 
before  all  the  people ;  adding  expressly  that  it  is  the 
reward  of  their  stubborn  obstinacy  and  deafness  to 
the  Divine  voice. 

The  prophet's  imprecations  of  evil  thus  appear  to 
have  been  ratified  at  the  time  of  their  conception  by 
the  Divine  voice,  which  spoke  in  the  stillness  of  his 
after  reflexion. 


XII. 

THE  BROKEN  VESSEL— A  SYMBOL  OF  JUDGMENT. 
Jeremiah  xix. 

THE  result  of  his  former  address,  founded  upon  the 
procedure  of  the  potter,  had  only  been  to  bring 
out  into  clearer  distinctness  the  appalling  extent  of  the 
national  corruption.  It  was  evident  that  Judah  was 
incorrigible,  and  the  Potter's  vessel  must  be  broken 
in  pieces  by  its  Maker. 

Thus  said  lahvah  :  Go  and  buy  a  bottle  (baqbuq^  as  if 
"  a  pour-pour " ;  the  meaning  is  alluded  to  in  the  first 
word  of  ver.  7  :  ubaqqothi,  "  and  I  will  pour  out ")  of  a 
moulder  of  pottery  (so  the  accents  ;  but  perhaps  the  Vul- 
gate is  right :  '^  lagunculam  figuli  testeam,"  '*  a  potter's 
earthen  vessel,"  A.V. ;  lit.  a  potter's  bottle,  viz.,  earthen- 
ware), and  {take:  LXX.  rightly  adds)  some  of  the  elders 
of  the  people  and  of  the  elders  of  the  priests,  and  go  out 
into  the  valley  of  ben  Hinnom  at  the  entry  of  the  Pottery 
Gate  (a  postern,  where  broken  earthenware  and  rubbish 
were  shot  forth  into  the  valley :  the  term  is  connected 
with  that  for  ''pottery,"  ver.  I,  which  is  the  same  as 
that  in  Job  ii.  8),  and  cry  there  the  words  that  I  shall 
speak  unto  thee, — Jeremiah  does  not  pause  here,  to 
relate  how  he  followed  the  Divine  impulse,  but  goes 
on  at  once  to  communicate  the  tenor  of  the  Divine 
"  words  "  ;  a  circumstance  which  points  to  the  fact  that 


THE  BROKEN  VESSEL— A  SYMBOL  OF  JUDGMENT.  399 

this  narrative  was  only  written  some  time  after  the 
symbolical  action  which  it  records; — and  say  thou^ 
Hear  ye  lahvah's  word,  O  kings  of  Judah  and  inhabit- 
ants  of  Jerusalem  I  Thus  said  lahvah  Sabaoth,  the  God 
of  Israel:  Lo,  I  am  about  to  bring  an  evil  upon  this  place, 
such  that,  whoever  heareth  it,  his  ears  shall  tingle  !  If 
we  suppose,  as  seems  likely,  that  this  series  of  oracles 
(xviii.-xx.)  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Jehoiachin,  the 
expression  "  kings  of  Judah  "  may  denote  that  king  and 
the  queen-mother.  Another  view  is  that  the  kings  of 
Judah  in  general  are  addressed  "  as  an  indefinite  class 
of  persons,"  here  and  elsewhere  (xvii.  20,  xxii.  4), 
because  the  prophet  did  not  write  the  main  portion  of 
his  book  until  after  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  (Ewald). 
The  announcement  of  this  verse  is  quoted  by  the 
compiler  of  Kings  in  relation  to  the  crimes  of  king 
Manasseh  (2  Kings  xxi.  12). 

Because  that  they  forsook  Me,  and  made  this  place 
strange — alienated  it  from  lahvah  by  consecrating  it 
to  *'  strange  gods "  ;  or  as  the  Targum  and  Syriac, 
"  polluted  "  it — and  burnt  incense  therein  to  other  gods, 
whom  neither  they  nor  their  fathers  knew  (xvi.  13);  and 
the  kings  of  Judah  did  fill  this  place  with  blood  of  inno- 
cents (so  the  LXX.  *'  Nor  the  kings  of  Judah"  gives  a 
poor  sense;  they  are  included  in  the  preceding  phrase), 
and  built  the  bamoth  Baal  (High-places  of  Baal;  a  proper 
name,  Josh.  xiii.  17),  to  burn  their  sons  in  the  fire,  [as 
burnt-offerings  to  the  Baal:  LXX.  omits,  and  it  is 
wanting,  vii.  31,  xxxii.  35.  It  may  be  a  gloss,  but  is 
probably  genuine,  as  there  are  slight  variations  in  each 
passage],  which  I  commanded  not,  [nor  spake :  LXX. 
omits],  neither  came  it  into  My  mind :  therefore,  behold  days 
are  coming,  saith  lahvah,  when  this  place  will  no  more  be 
called  the  Tophet  and  valley  of  ben  Hinnom  but  the  Valley 


400  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

of  Slaughter !  [and  in  Tophet  shall  they  bury,  so  that 
there  be — remain — no  room  to  bury  !  This  clause,  pre- 
served at  the  end  of  ver.  1 1,  but  omitted  there  by  the 
LXX.,  probably  belongs  here  :  see  vii.  42].  And  I 
will  pour  out  (ver.  i  ;  Isa.  xix.  3)  the  counsel  of  Jiidah 
and  Jerusalem  in  this  place — that  is,  I  will  empty  the 
land  of  all  wisdom  and  resourcefulness,  as  one  empties 
a  bottle  of  its  water,  so  that  the  heads  of  the  state  shall 
be  powerless  to  devise  any  effectual  scheme  of  defence 
in  the  face  of  calamity  (cf.  xiii.  1 3) — and  I  will  cause 
them  to  fall  by  the  sword  ^'  before  their  enemies  "  (Deut. 
xxviii.  25),  and  by  the  hand  of  them  that  seek  their  life; 
and  I  will  make  "  their  carcases  food  unto  the  birds  of  the 
air  and  the  beasts  of  the  earth  "  (Deut.  xxviii.  26 ;  chap, 
vii.  33,  xvi.  4).  And  I  will  set  this  city  ^'for  an  astonish- 
ment" (Deut.  xxviii.  37)  and  a  hissing  (xviii.  16)  ;  every 
one  that  passeth  by  her  shall  be  astonished  and  hiss  at  all 
her  ^^ strokes  "  (xlix.  17,  1.  13)  or  '^plagues''  (Deut.  xxviii. 
59).  And  I  will  cause  them  to  '^  eat  the  flesh  of  their  sons 
and  the  flesh  of  their  daughters',^  and  each  the  flesh  of  his 
fellow  shall  they  eat — "  in  the  stress  and  the  straitness 
wherewith  their  enemies"  and  they  that  seek  their  life 
*^  shall  straiten  them."  It  will  be  seen  from  the  references 
that  the  Deuteronomic  colouring  of  these  closing  threats 
(vv.  7-9)  is  very  strong,  the  last  verse  being  practi- 
cally a  quotation  (Deut.  xxviii.  53).  The  effect  of  the 
whole  oracle  would  thus  be  to  suggest  that  the  terrible 
sanctions  of  the  sacred  Law  would  not  remain  inopera- 
tive ;  but  that  the  shameless  violation  of  the  solemn 
covenant  under  Josiah,  by  which  the  nation  undertook 
to  observe  the  code  of  Deuteronomy,  would  soon  be 
visited  with  the  retributive  calamities  so  vividly  fore- 
shadowed in  that  book. 

And  break  thou  the  bottle,  to  the  eyes  of  the  men  that 


THE  BROKEN  VESSEL— A  SYMBOL  OF  JUDGMENT,  401 


go  with  thee^   and  say   unto  them:    Thus   said  lahvah 
Sabaoth  ;  So  will  I  break  this  people  and  this  city,  as  one 
breaketh  the  potter's  vessel  so  that  it  cannot  be  mended 
again  !     Thus  will  I  do  to  this  place,  saith  lahvah,  and 
to  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  make  (infin.  constr.  as  in 
xvii.   10,  continuing  the  mood  and  person  of  the  pre- 
ceding verb ;  which  is  properly  a  function  of  the  infin. 
absoL,  as  in  ver.   13)  this  city  like  a   Tophet — make  it 
one   huge   altar   of  human    sacrifice,    a   burning-place 
for  thousands  of  human  victims.     And  the  houses  of 
Jerusalem,   and  the  houses  of  the  kings  of  J itdah— the 
palace    of  David    and   Solomon,   in    which    king   after 
king   had    reigned,    and    "done    the    evil    in    lahvah's 
eyes,"—  shall  become  like   the  place   of  the   Tophet,  the 
defiled  ones  I  even  all  the  houses  upon  the  roofs  of  which 
they  burnt  incense  unto  all  the  host  of  heaven,  and  poured 
outpourings  (libations   of  wine  and   honey)   unto  other 
gods.     (So  the  Heb.  punctuation,  which  seems  to  give 
a  very  good  sense.     The  principal  houses,  those  of  the 
kings  and  grandees,  are  called  "the  defiled,"  because 
their  roofs  especially  have  been  polluted  with  idolatrous 
rites.     The  last  clause  of  the  verse  explains  the  epithet, 
which  might  have  been  referred  to  "  the  kings  of  Judah," 
had  it  preceded  "  like  the  place  of  the  Tophet."     The 
houses  were  not  to  become  '^  defiled  "  ;  they  were  already 
so,  past  all  cleansing ;  they  were  to  be  destroyed  with 
fire,  and  in  their  destruction  to  become  the  Tophet  or 
sacrificial  pyre   of  their   inhabitants.     We   need    not, 
therefore,  read   Tophteh,  after  Isa.  xxx.  33,  as  I  at  first 
thought  of  doing,  to  find  afterwards  that   Ewald  had 
already  suggested  it.     The  term  rendered  "  even  all,"  is 
Ht.  "  unto  all,"  that  is,  "  including  all "  ;  cf.  Ezek.  xHv.  9).^ 

*  LXX,  ccTTO  Tu>v  (iKaQapffiiSJp  avTwv  makes  it  possible  that  they  read 
D\XDL2D  which  would  represent  D^^J^tJP  "defiled." 

26 


402  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

The  command  and  break  thou  the  bottle  .  .  .  and 
say  unto  them  .  .  .  compared  with  that  of  ver.  2,  and 
cry  there  the  words  that  I  shall  speak  unto  thee  !  seems 
to  indicate  the  proper  point  of  view  from  which  the 
whole  piece  is  to  be  regarded.  Jeremiah  is  recalUng 
and  describing  a  particular  episode  in  his  past  ministry ; 
and  he  includes  the  whole  of  it,  with  the  attendant 
circumstances  and  all  that  he  said,  first  to  the  elders 
in  the  vale  of  ben  Hinnom,  and  then  to  the  people 
assembled  in  the  temple,  under  the  comprehensive 
Thus  said  lahvah  !  with  which  he  begins  his  narrative. 
In  other  words,  he  affirms  that  he  was  throughout 
the  entire  occurrence  guided  by  the  impulses  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  It  is  very  possible  that  the  longer 
first  address  (vv.  2-9)  really  gives  the  substance  of 
what  he  said  to  the  people  in  the  temple  on  his 
return  from  the  valley,  which  is  merely  summarized 
in  verse  15. 

And  Jeremiah  came  in — into  the  temple— /row  the 
Tophet,  whither  lahvah  had  sent  him  to  prophesy,  and 
took  his  stand  in  the  court  of  lahvalis  House,  and  said 
unto  all  the  people:  Thus  said  lahvah  Sabaoth  Israels 
God;  Loy  I  am  about  to  bring  upon  (ver.  3)  this  city  and 
upon  all  her  cities  [and  upon  her  villages :  LXX.  adds] 
all  the  evil  that  I  have  spoken  concerning  her;  because 
they  stiffened  their  neck  (vii.  26),  not  to  hear  My  words  I 
In  this  apparent  epitome  of  His  discourse  to  the  people 
in  the  temple,  the  prophet  seems  to  sum  up  all  his 
past  labours,  in  view  of  an  impending  crisis.  **A11  the 
evil"  spoken  hitherto  concerning  Jerusalem  is  upon 
the  point  of  being  accomplished  (cf  xxv.  3). 

In  reviewing  the  entire  oracle,  we  may  note  as  in 
former  instances,  the  care  with  which  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  symbolical  action  are  chosen,  in  order 


THE  BROKEN  VESSEL— A  SYMBOL  OF  JUDGMENT,  403 

to  enhance  the  effect  of  it  upon  the  minds  of  the 
witnesses.  The  Oriental  mind  delights  in  everything 
that  partakes  of  the  nature  of  an  enigma ;  it  loves  to 
be  called  upon  to  unravel  the  meaning  of  dark  sentences, 
and  to  disentangle  the  wisdom  wrapped  up  in  riddling 
words  and  significant  actions.  It  would  have  found 
eloquence  in  Tarquin's  unspoken  answer  to  his  son's 
messenger.  "Rex  velut  deliberabundus  in  hortum 
aedium  transit,  sequente  nuncio  filii :  ibi  inambulans 
tacitus  summa  papaverum  capita  dicitur  baculo  decus- 
sisse  "  (Liv.  i.  54).  No  doubt  Jeremiah's  companions 
would  watch  his  every  step,  and  would  not  miss  the 
fact  that  he  carried  his  earthenware  vessel  out  of  the 
city  by  the  "Sherd  Gate."  Here  was  a  vessel  yet 
whole,  treated  as  though  it  were  already  a  shattered 
heap  of  fragments  1  They  would  be  prepared  for  the 
oracle  in  the  valley. 

It  is  worth  while,  by  the  way,  to  notice  who  those 
companions  were.  They  were  certain  of  "  the  elders 
of  the  people  "  and  of  the  "  the  elders  of  the  priests." 
Jeremiah,  it  seems,  was  no  wild  revolutionary  dreamer 
and  schemer,  whose  hand  and  voice  were  against  all 
established  authority  in  Church  and  State.  This  was 
not  the  character  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  in  general, 
though  some  writers  have  conceived  thus  of  them. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  Jeremiah  ever  sought  to 
divest  himself  of  the  duties  and  privileges  of  his  heredi- 
tary priesthood ;  or  that  he  looked  upon  the  monarchy 
and  the  priestly  guilds  and  the  entire  social  organisa- 
tion of  Israel,  as  other  than  institutions  divinely 
originated  and  divinely  preserved  through  all  the  ages 
of  the  national  history.  He  did  not  believe  that  man 
created  these  institutions  .  though  experience  taught 
him  that  man  might  abuse  and  pervert  them  from  their 


404  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

lawful  uses.  His  aim  was  always  to  reform,  to  restore, 
to  lead  the  people  back  to  *'  the  old  paths "  of  primi- 
tive simplicity  and  rectitude  ;  not  to  aboHsh  hereditary 
institutions,  and  substitute  for  the  order  which  had 
become  an  integral  part  of  the  national  life,  some  brand- 
new  constitution  which  had  never  been  tried,  and  would 
be  no  more  likely  to  fit  the  body  corporate  than  the 
armour  of  Saul  fitted  the  free  limbs  of  the  young 
shepherd  who  was  to  slay  Goliath. 

The  prophets  never  called  for  the  abolition  of  those 
laws  and  customs,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  which  were 
the  very  framework  of  the  state,  and  the  pillars  of  the 
social  edifice.  They  did  not  cry,  "  Down  with  kings 
and  priests  ! "  but  to  both  kings  and  priests  they  cried, 
"  Hear  ye  lahvah's  word  ! "  And  all  experience  proves 
that  they  were  right.  Paper  constitutions  have  never 
yet  redeemed  a  nation  from  its  vices,  nor  delivered  a 
community  from  the  impotence  and  the  decay  which 
are  the  inevitable  fruits  of  moral  corruption.  Arbitrary 
legislative  changes  will  not  alter  the  inward  condition 
of  a  people ;  covetousness  and  hypocrisy,  pride  and 
selfishness,  intemperance  and  uncleanness  and  cruelty, 
may  be  as  rampant  in  a  commonwealth  as  in  a 
kingdom. 

The  contents  of  the  oracle  are  much  what  we  have 
had  many  times  already.  The  chief  difference  lies  in 
a  calm  definiteness  of  assurance,  a  tone  of  distinct 
certitude,  as  though  the  end  were  so  near  at  hand,  as 
to  leave  no  room  for  doubt  or  hesitation.  And  this 
difference  is  fittingly  and  impressively  suggested  by 
the  particular  symbol  chosen — the  shattering  of  an 
earthenware  vessel,  beyond  the  possibility  of  repair. 
The  direct  mention  of  the  king  of  Babylon  and  the 
Babylonian  captivity,  in  the  sequel  (chap,  xx.),  points 


THE  BROKEN  VESSEL— A  SYMBOL  OF  JUDGMENT.    405 

to  the  presence  of  a  Babylonian  invasion,  probably  that 
which  ended  with  the  exile  of  Jeconiah  and  the  chief 
citizens  of  Jerusalem. 

The  fatal  sin,  from  which  the  oracle  starts  and  to 
which  it  returns,  is  forsaking  lahvah,  and  making  the 
city  of  His  choice  "  strange  "  to  Him,  that  is,  hateful 
and  unclean,  by  contact  with  foreign  and  bloody  super- 
stitions, which  were  even  falsely  declared  by  their 
promoters  to  be  pleasing  to  lahvah,  the  Avenger  of 
innocent  blood!  (chap.  vii.  31).  The  punishment 
corresponds  to  the  offence.  The  sacrifices  of  blood 
will  be  requited  with  blood,  shed  in  torrents  on  the 
very  spot  which  had  been  so  foully  polluted ;  they  who 
had  not  scrupled  to  slay  their  children  for  the  sacrifice, 
were  to  slay  them  again  for  food  under  the  stress  of 
siege  and  famine ;  the  city  and  its  houses,  defiled  with 
the  foreign  worships,  will  become  one  vast  Molech-fire 
(xxxii.  35),  in  which  all  will  perish  together. 

It  may  strike  a  modern  reader  that  there  is  something 
repulsive  and  cold-blooded  in  this  detailed  enumeration 
of  appalling  horrors.  But  not  only  is  it  the  case  that 
Jeremiah  is  quoting  from  the  Book  of  the  Law,  at  a 
time  when,  to  an  unprejudiced  eye,  there  was  every 
likelihood  that  the  course  of  events  would  verify  his 
dark  forebodings ;  in  the  dreadful  experience  of  those 
times  such  incidents  as  those  mentioned  (ver.  9)  were 
familiar  occurrences  in  the  obstinate  defence  and  pro- 
tracted sufferings  of  beleaguered  cities.  The  prophet, 
therefore,  simply  affirms  that  obstinate  persistence  in 
following  their  own  counsels  and  rejecting  the  higher 
guidance  will  bring  upon  the  nation  its  irretrievable 
ruin.  We  know  that  in  the  last  siege  he  did  his 
utmost  to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  these  unnatural 
horrors   by   urging  surrender ;  but    then,   as   always, 


4o6  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

the  people  "stiffened  their  neck,  not  to  hear  lahvah's 
words." 

Jeremiah  knew  his  countrymen  well.  No  phrase 
could  have  better  described  the  resolute  obstinacy  of 
the  national  character.  How  were  the  headstrong 
self-will,  the  inveterate  sensuality,  the  blind  tenacity 
of  fanatical  and  non-moral  conceptions  which  charac- 
terized this  people,  to  be  purified  and  made  serviceable 
in  the  interests  of  true  religion,  except  by  means  of  the 
fiery  ordeal  which  all  the  prophets  foresaw  and  fore- 
told? As  we  have  seen,  polytheism  exercised  upon 
the  popular  mind  a  spell  which  we  can  hardly  com- 
prehend from  our  modern  point  of  view  ;  a  polytheism 
foul  and  murderous,  which  violated  the  tenderest 
affections  of  our  nature  by  demanding  of  the  father 
the  sacrifice  of  his  child,  and  violated  the  very  instinct 
of  natural  purity  by  the  shameless  indulgence  of  its 
worship.  It  was  a  consecration  of  lust  and  cruelty, — 
that  worship  of  Molech,  those  rites  of  the  Baals  and 
Asheras.  Meagre  and  monotonous  as  the  sacred  records 
may  on  these  heads  appear  to  be,  their  witness  is 
supplemented  by  other  sources,  by  the  monuments  of 
Babylon  and  Phenicia. 

It  is  hard  to  see  how  the  religious  instinct  of  men 
in  this  peculiar  stage  of  belief  and  practice  was  to 
be  enlightened  and  purified  in  any  other  way  than  the 
actual  course  of  Providence.  What  arguments  can  be 
imagined  that  would  have  appealed  to  minds  which 
found  a  fatal  fascination,  nay,  we  must  suppose  an 
intense  satisfaction,  in  rites  so  hideous  that  one  durst 
not  even  describe  them ;  minds  to  which  the  lofty 
monotheism  of  Amos,  the  splendid  eloquence  of  an 
Isaiah,  the  plaintive  lyrical  strain  of  a  Jeremiah,  ap- 
pealed in  vain  ?     Appeals  to  the  order  of  the  world,  to 


THE  BROKEN  VESSEL— A  SYMBOL  OF  JUDGMENT.  407 

the  wonders  of  organic  life,  were  lost  upon  minds  which 
made  gods  of  the  most  obvious  subjects  of  that  order, 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  ;  which  even  personified  and 
adored  the  physical  principle  whereby  the  succession 
of  life  after  life  is  perpetuated. 

Nothing  short  of  the  perception  that  the  word  of  the 
prophets  had  come  to  pass,  the  recognition,  therefore, 
that  the  prophetic  idea  of  God  was  the  true  idea,  could 
have  succeeded  in  keeping  the  remnant  of  Judah  safe 
from  the  contagion  of  surrounding  heathenism  in  the 
land  of  their  exile,  and  in  radically  transforming  once 
for  all  the  religious  tendencies  of  the  Jewish  race. 

In  Jeremiah's  view,  the  heinousness  of  Judah's  idol- 
atry is  heightened  by  the  consideration  that  the  gods 
of  their  choice  are  gods  '*  whom  neither  they  nor  their 
fathers  knew"  (ver.  4).  The  kings  Ahaz,  Manasseh, 
Amon,  had  introduced  novel  rites,  and  departed  from 
"  the  old  paths  "  more  decidedly  than  any  of  their  pre- 
decessors. In  this  connexion,  we  may  remember  that, 
while  modern  Romish  controversialists  do  not  scruple 
to  accuse  the  Church  of  this  country  of  having  unlaw- 
fully innovated  at  the  Reformation,  the  Anglican  appeal 
has  always  been  to  Scripture  and  primitive  antiquity. 
Such,  too,  was  the  appeal  of  the  prophets  (Hos.  vi.  i,  7, 
xi.  I ;  Jer.  ii.  2,  vi.  16,  xi.  3).  It  is  the  glory  of  our 
Church,  a  glory  of  which  neither  the  lies  of  Jesuits 
nor  the  envy  of  the  sectaries  can  rob  her,  that  she 
returned  to  "  the  old  paths,"  boldly  overleaping  the 
dark  ages  of  medieval  ignorance,  imposture,  and  cor- 
ruption, and  planting  her  foot  firmly  upon  the  rock 
of  apostolic  practice  and  the  consent  of  the  undivided 
Church. 

Disunion  among  Christians  is  a  sore  evil,  but  union 
in  the  maintenance  and  propaganda  of  falsehood  is  a 


4o8  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

worse ;  and  the  guilt  of  disunion  lies  at  the  door  of  that 
system  which  abused  its  authority  to  crush  out  legiti- 
mate freedom  of  thought,  to  retard  the  advancement 
of  learning,  and  to  establish  those  monstrous  innova- 
tions in  doctrine  and  worship,  which  subtle  dialecticians 
may  prove  to  their  own  satisfaction  to  be  innocent 
and  non-idolatrous  in  essence  and  intention,  though 
all  the  world  can  see  that  in  practice  they  are  grossly 
idolatrous.  God  preserve  England  from  that  toleration 
of  serious  error,  which  is  so  easy  to  sceptical  indifference  ! 
God  preserve  her  from  lending  an  ear  to  the  siren 
voices  that  would  seduce  her  to  yield  her  hard-won 
independence,  her  noble  freedom,  her  manly  rational 
piety,  to  the  unhistorical  and  unscriptural  claims  of  the 
Papacy  1 

If  we  reverence  those  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment to  which  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  made  their 
constant  appeal,  we  shall  keep  steadily  before  our  minds 
the  fact  that,  in  the  estimation  of  a  prophet  like  Jere- 
miah, the  sin  of  sins,  the  sin  that  involved  the  ruin 
of  Israel  and  Judah,  was  the  sin  of  associating  other 
objects  of  worship  with  the  One  Only  God.  The 
temptation  is  peculiarly  strong  to  some  natures.  The 
continual  relapse  of  ancient  Israel  is  not  so  great  a 
wonder  to  those  of  us  who  have  any  knowledge  of 
mankind,  and  who  can  observe  what  is  passing  around 
them  at  the  present  day.  It  is  the  severe  demand  of 
God's  holy  law,  which  makes  men  cast  about  for  some 
plausible  compromise — it  is  that  demand  which  also 
makes  them  yearn  after  some  intermediary  power, 
whose  compassion  will  be  less  subject  to  considerations 
of  justice,  whom  prayers  and  entreaties  and  presents 
may  overcome,  and  induce  to  wink  at  unrepented  sin. 
In  an  age  of  unsettlement,  the  more  daring  spirits  will 


THE  BROKEN  VESSEL— A  SYMBOL  OF  JUDGMENT,  409 

be  prone  to  silence  their  inconvenient  scruples  by  rush- 
ing into  atheism,  while  the  more  timid  may  take  refuge 
in  Popery.  "  For  to  disown  a  Moral  Governour,  or  to 
admit  that  any  observances  of  superstition  can  release 
men  from  the  duty  of  obeying  Him,  equally  serves  the 
purpose  of  those,  who  resolve  to  be  as  wicked  as  they 
dare,  or  as  little  virtuous  as  they  can  "  (Bp.  Hurd). 

Then,  too,  there  is  the  glory  of  the  saints  and  angels 
of  God.  How  can  frail  man  refuse  to  bow  before  the 
vision  of  their  power  and  splendour,  as  they  stand,  the 
royal  children  of  the  King  of  kings,  around  the  heavenly 
throne,  deathless,  radiant  with  love  and  joy  and  purity, 
exalted  far  above  all  human  weakness  and  human 
sorrows  ?  If  the  holy  angels  are  ''  ministering  spirits," 
why  not  the  entire  community  of  the  Blessed  ?  And 
what  is  to  hinder  us  from  casting  ourselves  at  the  feet 
of  saint  or  angel,  one's  own  appointed  guardian,  or 
chosen  helper  ?  Let  good  George  Herbert  answer  for 
us  all. 

"  Oh  glorious  spirits,  who  after  all  your  bands 

See  the  smooth  face  of  God,  without  a  frown, 
Or  strict  commands ; 

Where  every  one  is  king,  and  hath  his  crown, 

If  not  upon  his  head,  yet  in  his  hands: 
"  Not  out  of  envy  or  maliciousness 

Do  I  forbear  to  crave  your  special  aid. 
I  would  address 

My  vows  to  thee  most  gladly,  blessed  Maid, 

And  Mother  of  my  God,  in  my  distress : 

"  But  now,  (alas  I)  I  dare  not ;  for  our  King, 
Whom  we  do  all  jointly  adore  and  praise, 

Bids  no  such  thing : 
And  where  His  pleasure  no  injunction  lays, 
('Tis  your  own  case)  ye  never  move  a  wing. 


4IO  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

"  All  worship  is  prerogative,  and  a  flower 
Of  His  rich  crown,  from  whom  lies  no  appeal 

At  the  last  hour  : 
Therefore  we  dare  not  from  His  garland  steal, 
To  make  a  posy  for  inferior  power." 

In  this  sense  also,  as  in  many  others,  the  warning  of 
St.  John  applies : 

LITTLE    CHILDREN,    KEEP   YOURSELVES    FROM    IDOLS  I 


XIII. 

TEREMIAH  UNDER  PERSECUTION, 
Jeremiah  xx. 

THE  prophet  has  now  to  endure  something  more 
than  a  scornful  rejection  of  his  message.  And 
Pashchur  ben  Immer  the  priest  (he  was  chief  ojfxcer  in  the 
house  of  lahvali)  heard  J eremiah  prophesying  these  words. 
And  Pashchur  smote  Jeremiah  the  prophet  and  put  him 
in  the  stocks,  which  were  in  the  upper  gate  of  Benjamin 
in  the  house  of  lahvah.  Like  the  priest  of  Bethel,  who 
abruptly  put  an  end  to  the  preaching  of  Amos  in  the 
royal  sanctuary,  Pashchur  suddenly  interferes,  appa- 
rently before  Jeremiah  has  finished  his  address  to  the 
people;  and  enraged  at  the  tenour  of  his  words,  he 
causes  him — ''  Jeremiah  the  prophet,'^  as  it  is  significantly 
added,  to  indicate  the  sacrilege  of  the  act — to  be  beaten 
in  the  cruel  Eastern  manner  on  the  soles  of  the  feet, 
inflicting  probably  the  full  number  of  forty  blows  per- 
mitted by  the  Law  (Deut.),  and  then  leaving  him,  in  his 
agony  of  mind  and  body,  fast  bound  in  "  the  stocks." 
For  the  remainder  of  that  day  and  all  night  long  the 
prophet  sat  there  in  the  gate,  at  first  exposed  to  the 
taunts  and  jeers  of  his  adversaries  and  the  rabble  of 
their  followers,  and  as  the  weary  hours  slowly  crept  on, 
becoming  painfully  cramped  in  his  Hmbs  by  the  bar- 
barous machine  which   held  his  hands  and  feet  near 


412  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

together,  and  bent  his  body  double.  This  cruel  punish- 
ment seems  to  have  been  the  customary  mode  of  dealing 
with  such  as  were  accounted  false  prophets  by  the 
authorities.  It  was  the  treatment  which  Hanani 
endured  in  return  for  his  warning  to  king  Asa  (2 
Chron.  xvi.  10),  some  three  centuries  earlier  than 
Jeremiah's  time  ;  and  a  fev;  ^'ears  later  in  our  prophet's 
history,  an  attempt  was  made  to  enforce  it  again  in 
his  case  (Jer.  xxix.  26),  Thus,  like  the  holy  apostles 
of  our  Lord,  was  Jeremiah  "  counted  worthy  to  suffer 
shame  "  for  the  Name  in  which  he  spoke  (Acts  v.  40, 
41)  ;  and  like  Paul  and  Silas  at  Philippi,  after  enduring 
"  many  stripes "  his  feet  were  "  made  fast  in  the 
stocks"  (Acts  xvi.  23,  24).  The  message  of  Jeremiah 
was  a  message  of  judgment,  that  of  the  apostles  was  a 
message  of  forgiveness ;  and  both  met  with  the  same 
response  from  a  world  whose  heart  was  estranged  from 
God.  The  heart  that  loves  its  own  way,  is  only  at  ease 
when  it  can  forget  God.  Any  reminder  of  His  Presence, 
of  His  perpetual  activity  in  mercy  and  judgment,  is 
unwelcome,  and  makes  its  authors  odious.  From  the  out- 
set, transgressors  of  the  Divine  law  have  sought  to  hide 
among  the  trees  of  the  garden — in  the  engrossing  pursuits 
and  pleasures  of  life — from  the  Presence  of  God. 

Pashchur's  object  was  not  to  destroy  Jeremiah,  but 
to  break  his  spirit,  and  discredit  him  with  the  multi- 
tude, and  so  silence  him  for  ever.  But  in  this  expecta- 
tion he  was  as  signally  disappointed  as  his  successor 
was  in  the  case  of  St.  Peter  (Acts  v.  24,  29).  Now  as 
then,  God's  messenger  could  not  be  turned  from  his 
conviction  that  we  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men. 
And  as  he  sat  alone  in  his  intolerable  anguish,  brooding 
over  his  shameful  wrongs,  and  despairing  of  redress, 
a  Divine  Word  came  in  the  stillness  of  night  to  this 


XX.]  JEREMIAH  UNDER  PERSECUTION.  41. 


victim  of  human  tyranny.  For  it  came  to  pass  on  the 
morrow  that  Pashchiir  brought  Jeremiah  forth  out  of  the 
stocks;  and  Jeremiah  said  unto  him^  Not  Pashchur"^ — 
as  if  "  Glad  and  free  " — but  Magor-missabib — ^'  Fear  011 
every  side  " — hath  lahvah  called  thy  name  !  Sharpened 
with  misery,  the  seer's  eye  pierces  through  the  shows 
of  hfe,  and  discerns  the  grim  contrast  of  truth  and 
appearance.  Before  him  stands  this  great  man,  clothed 
with  all  the  dignity  of  high  office,  and  able  to  destroy 
him  with  a  word ;  but  lahvah's  prophet  does  not  quail 
before  abused  authority.  He  sees  the  sword  suspended 
by  a  hair  over  the  head  of  this  haughty  and  super- 
cilious official;  and  he  realizes  the  solemn  irony  of 
circumstance,  which  has  connected  a  name  suggestive 
of  gladness  and  freedom  with  a  man  destined  to  become 
the  thrall  of  perpetual  terrors.  For  thus  hath  lahvah 
said :  Lo,  I  am  about  to  make  thee  a  Fear  to  thyself  and  to 
all  thy  lovers;  and  they  will  fall  by  the  sword  of  their 
foeSf  while  thine  eyes  look  on  !  This  "  glad  and  free " 
persecutor,  wantoning  in  the  abuse  of  power,  bhndly 
fearless  of  the  future,  is  not  doomed  to  be  slain  out 
of  hand ;  a  heavier  fate  is  in  store  for  him,  a  fate  pre- 

•  The  name  is  probably  a  quadriliteral  from  T\^%    ^-i    Ethiopic 

't'4,J«^dl   "to  be  glad,"  Assyrian   ^  V  *"M   pashdchu'' io 

be  at  ease,"  "to  rest,"  (which  comes  nearest  to  the  Hebrew  root). 
The  Arabic   verb   means   "The   place  was  roomy,   wide,   ample"; 

Pashchur="ease,"  "  tranquillity,"  and  is  formed  like  Achbor,  kaphtor, 
"a.  capital,"  (LXX.  Pashchor).  But  the  name  might  remind  a 
Hebrew  of  the  root  K'lQ  "  to  leap,"  "prance,"  Jer.  1.  Ii,  and  "IH  "free" 
(plur.  only),  as  if  it  were  a  compound  of  pdsh  and  chor.  "  Glad  and 
free:"  cf.  the  LXX.  vocalisation  na<Tx<^p.  I  think  this  popular 
etymology  pash  +  chor  is  probably  what  Jeremiah  thought  o£ 


414  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

figured  and  foreshadowed  by  his  present  sins.  His 
proud  confidence  is  to  'give  place  to  a  haunting  sense 
of  danger  and  insecurity ;  he  is  to  see  his  followers 
perish  one  after  another,  and  evermore  to  be  expecting 
the  same  end  for  himself :  while  the  freedom  which  he 
has  enjoyed  and  abused  so  long,  is  to  be  exchanged 
for  a  lifelong  captivity  in  a  foreign  land.  And  all  Judah 
will  I  give  into  the  hand  of  the  king  of  Babylon^  and  he 
will  transport  them  to  Babylon^  and  smite  them  with  the 
sword.  And  I  will  give  all  the  store  of  this  city — the 
hoarded  wealth  of  all  sorts,  which  constitutes  its  strength 
and  reserve  force — and  all  the  gain  thereof— ihe  produce 
of  labour — and  all  the  value  thereof— things  rare  and 
precious  of  every  kind,  works  of  the  carver's  and  the 
goldsmith's  and  the  potter's  and  the  weaver's  art; — 
and  all  the  treasures  of  the  kings  of  Judah  will  I  give 
into  the  hand  of  their  foes,  that  they  may  spoil  them  and 
take  them  and  bring  them  to  Babylon. 

And  for  thyself  Pashchur,  and  all  that  dwell  in  thine 
house,  ye  shall  depart  among  the  captives  ;  and  to  Babylon 
thou  shall  come,  and  there  thou  shall  die,  and  there  be 
buried,  thyself  and  all  thy  lovers,  to  whom  thou  hast 
prophesied  with  untruth,  or  rather  by  the  Lie,  i.e.,  by  the 
Baal  (ii.  S,  xxiii.  13,  cf.  xii.  16). 

The  play  on  the  name  of  Pashchur  is  Hke  that  on 
Perath  (ch.  xiii.),  and  the  change  to  Magor-missabib 
is  like  the  change  of  Tophet  into  ^'Valley  of  Slaughter" 
(ch.  xix.).  Like  Amos  (vii.  16),  Jeremiah  repeats  his 
obnoxious  prophecy,  with  a  special  application  to  his 
cruel  persecutor,  and  with  the  added  detail  that  all  the 
wealth  of  Jerusalem  will  be  carried  as  spoil  to  Babylon ; 
a  detail  in  which  there  may  lie  an  oblique  reference  to 
the  covetous  worldliness  and  the  interested  opposition 
of    such   men   as   Pashchur.      Riches   and   ease   and 


XX.]  JEREMIAH  UNDER  PERSECUTION.  415 

popularity  were  the  things  for  which  he  and  those  like 
him  had  bargained  away  their  integrity,  prophesying 
with  conscious  falsehood  to  the  deluded  people.  His 
*' lovers"  are  his  partisans,  who  eagerly  welcomed  his 
presages  of  peace  and  prosperity,  and  doubtless  actively 
opposed  Jeremiah  with  ridicule  and  threats.  The  last 
detail  is  remarkable,  for  we  do  not  otherwise  know  that 
Pashchur  affected  to  prophesy.  If  it  be  not  meant 
simply  that  Pashchur  accepted  and  lent  the  weight  of 
his  official  sanction  to  the  false  prophets,  and  especially 
those  who  'uttered  their  divinations  in  the  name  of 
"  the  Baal,"  that  is  to  say,  either  Molech,  or  the  popular 
and  delusive  conception  of  the  God  of  Israel,  we  see 
in  this  man  one  who  combined  a  steady  professional 
opposition  to  Jeremiah  with  power  to  enforce  his 
hostility  by  legalized  acts  of  violence.  The  conduct 
of  Hananiah  on  a  later  occasion  (xxviii.  10),  clearly 
proves  that,  where  the  power  was  present,  the  will  for 
such  acts  was  not  wanting  in  Jeremiah's  professional 
adversaries. 

It  is  generally  taken  for  granted  that  the  name  of 
"Pashchur"  has  been  substituted  for  that  of  "  Malchijah" 
in  the  hst  of  the  priestly  families  which  returned  with 
Zerubbabel  from  the  Babylonian  captivity  (Ezra  ii.  38  ; 
Neh.  vii.  41 ;  cf.  i  Chron.  xxiv.  9) ;  but  it  seems  quite 
possible  that  "  the  sons  of  Pashchur"  were  a  subdivision 
of  the  family  of  Immer,  which  had  increased  largely 
during  the  Exile.  In  that  case,  the  list  affords  evidence 
of  the  fulfilment  of  Jeremiah's  prediction  to  Pashchur. 
The  prophet  elsewhere  mentions  another  Pashchur, 
who  was  also  a  priest,  of  the  course  or  guild  of 
Malchijah  (xxi.  I,  xxxviii.  i),  which  was  the  designa- 
tion of  the  fifth  class  of  the  priests,  as  "  Immer  "  was 
that   of  the   sixteenth    (i   Chron.    xxiv.  9,    14).     The 


4i6  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

prince  Gedaliah,  who  was  hostile  to  Jeremiah,  was  ap- 
parently a  son  of  the  present  Pashchur  (Jer.  xxxviii.  i). 
It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  relation  of  the  lyrical 
section  which  immediately  follows  the  doom  of  Pashchur, 
to   the  preceding  account   (vv.   y-Z^.     If  the  seventh 
verse  be  in  its  original  place,  it  would  seem  that  the 
prophet's   word    had    failed   of    accomplishment,    with 
the  result  of  intensifying  the  unbelief  and  the  ridicule 
which  his  teachings  encountered.     There  is  also  some- 
thing very  strange  in  the  sequence  of  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  verses,  where,  as  the  text  now  stands, 
the  prophet  passes  at  once,  in  the  most  abrupt  fashion 
imaginable,  from  a  fervid  ascription  of  praise,  a  heart- 
felt cry  of  thanksgiving  for  deliverance  either  actual 
or  contemplated  as  such,  to  utterances  of  unrelieved 
despair.     I  do  not  think  that  this  is  in   the   manner 
of  Jeremiah ;  nor  do   I  see   how   the  violent  contrast 
of  the  two  sections  (7-13   and    14-18)    can   fairly  be 
accounted   for,  except    by   supposing    either   that   we 
have  here  two  unconnected  fragments,  placed  in  juxta- 
position with  each  other  because   they  belong  to  the 
same  general  period  of  the  prophet's  ministry ;  or  that 
the  two  passages  have  by  some  accident  of  transcrip- 
tion been  transposed,  which  is  by  no  means  an  un- 
common occurrence  in  the  MSS.  of  the  Biblical  writers. 
Assuming  this  latter  as  the  more  probable  alternative, 
we  see  in  the  entire  passage  a  powerful  representation 
of  the  mental  conflict  into  which  Jeremiah  was  thrown 
by  Pashchur's  high-handed  violence  and  the  seeming 
triumph  of  his  enemies.     Smarting  with  the  sense  of 
utter  injustice,  humiliated  in  his  inmost  soul  by  shame- 
ful  indignities,   crushed  to   the  earth   with    the  bitter 
consciousness  of  defeat  and    failure,  the  prophet   like 
Job  opens  his  mouth  and  curses  his  day. 


XX.]  JEREMIAH  UNDER  PERSECUTION.  417 

1.  "  Cursed  be  the  day  wherein  I  was  bora ! 
The  day  that  my  mother  bare  me, 

Let  it  not  be  blest  I 

2.  Cursed  be  the  man  who  told  the  glad  tidings  to  my  father, 
♦  There  is  born  to  thee  a  male  child  ; ' 

Who  made  him  rejoice  greatly. 

3.  And  let  that  man  become  like  the  cities  that  lahweh  over- 

threw, without  relenting, 
And  let  him  hear  a  cry  in  the  morning, 
And  an  alarm  at  the  hour  of  noon ! 

4.  For  that  he  slew  me  not  in  the  womb, 

That  my  mother  might  have  become  my  grave, 
And  her  womb  have  been  laden  evermore  I 

5.  O  why  from  the  womb  came  I  forth 
To  see  labour  and  sorrow, 

And  my  days  fordone  v^dth  shame?" 

These  five  triplets  afford  a  glimpse  of  the  lively  grief, 
the  passionate  despair,  which  agitated  the  prophet's 
heart  as  the  first  effect  of  the  shame  and  the  torture 
to  which  he  had  been  so  wickedly  and  wantonly 
subjected.  The  elegy,  of  which  they  constitute  the 
proem,  or  opening  strophe,  is  not  introduced  by  any 
formula  ascribing  it  to  Divine  inspiration  ;  it  is  simply 
written  down  as  a  faithful  record  of  Jeremiah's  own 
feelings  and  reflexions  and  self-communings,  at  this 
painful  crisis  in  his  career.  The  poet  of  the  book  of 
Job  has  apparently  taken  the  hint  supplied  by  these 
opening  verses,  and  has  elaborated  the  idea  of  cursing 
the  day  of  birth  through  seven  highly  wrought  and 
imaginative  stanzas.  The  higher  finish  and  somewhat 
artificial  expansion  of  that  passage  leave  little  doubt  that 
it  was  modelled  upon  the  one  before  us.  But  the  point 
to  remember  here  is  that  both  are  lyrical  effusions, 
expressed  in  language  conditioned  by  Oriental  rather 
than  European  standards  of  taste  and  usage.     As  the 

27 


4i8  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

prophets  were  not  inspired  to  express  their  thoughts 
and  feelings  in  a  modern  English  dress,  it  is  superflu- 
ous to  inquire  whether  Jeremiah  was  morally  justified 
in  using  these  poetic  formulas  of  imprecation.  To 
insist  on  applying  the  doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration  to 
such  a  passage  is  to  evince  an  utter  want  of  literary 
tact  and  insight,  as  well  as  adhesion  to  an  exploded 
and  pernicious  relic  of  sectarian  theology.  The  prophet's 
curses  are  simply  a  highly  effective  form  of  poetical 
rhetoric,  and  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  imme- 
morial modes  of  Oriental  expression;  and  the  under- 
lying thought,  so  equivocally  expressed,  according  to 
our  ways  of  looking  at  things,  is  simply  that  his  life 
has  been  a  failure,  and  therefore  it  would  have  been 
better  not  to  have  been  born.  Who  that  is  at  all 
earnest  for  God's  truth,  nay,  for  far  lower  objects  of 
human  interest  and  pursuit,  has  not  in  moments  of 
despondency  and  discouragement  been  overwhelmed 
for  a  time  by  the  like  feeling  ?  Can  we  blame  Jeremiah 
for  allowing  us  to  see  in  this  faithful  transcript  of  his 
inner  life  how  intensely  human,  how  entirely  natural 
the  spiritual  experience  of  the  prophets  really  was  ? 
Besides,  the  revelation  does  not  end  with  this  initial 
outburst  of  instinctive  astonishment,  indignation  and 
despair.  The  proem  is  succeeded  by  a  psalm  in  seven 
stanzas  of  regular  poetical  form — six  quatrains  rounded 
off  with  a  final  couplet — in  which  the  prophet's  thought 
rises  above  the  level  of  nature,  and  finds  in  an  over- 
ruling Providence  both  the  source  and  the  justification 
of  the  enigma  of  his  life. 

I.  "  Thou  enticedst  me,  lahvah,  and  I  was  enticed, 

Thou  urgedst  ^  me,  and  didst  prevail ! 

I  am  become  a  derision  all  the  day  long. 

Every  one  mocketh  at  me. 

^  Ex.  xii.  33  ;  Isa.  viii.  ii  ;  Ezek.  iii.  14;  Jer.  xv.  17. 


XX.]  JEREMIAH  UNDER  PERSECUTION.  419 

2.  "  For  as  oft  as     speak,  I  cry  alarm, 
Violence  and  havoc  do  I  proclaim  ; 

For  lahvah's  word  is  become  to  me  a  reproach, 
And  a  scoff  all  the  day  long. 

3.  "  And  if  I  say,  I  will  not  mind  it, 
Nor  speak  any  more  in  His  Name ; 

Then  it  becometh  in  my  heart  like  a  burning  fire  prisoned 

in  my  bones. 
And  I  weary  of  holding  it  in  *  and  am  not  able. 

4.  "  For  I  have  heard  the  defaming  of  many,  the  terror  on  every 

side ;  * 
All  the  men  of  my  friendship  are  watching  for  my  fall; 
'Perchance  he  will  be  enticed,  and  we  shall  prevail  over 

him, 
And  take  our  revenge  of  him.* 

5.  •'  Yet  lahvah  is  with  me  as  a  dread  warrior, 
Therefore  my  pursuers  shall  stumble  and  not  prevail ; 
They  shall  be  greatly  ashamed,  for  that   they   have   not 

prospered. 
With  eternal  dishonour  that  shall  not  be  forgotten, 

6.  "  And  lahvah  Sabaoth  trieth  the  righteous, 
Seeth  the  reins  and  the  heart ; 

I  shall  see  Thy  revenge  of  them, 

For  unto  Thee  have  I  committed  my  quarrel. 

7.  Sing  ye  to  lahvah,  acclaim  ye  lahvah  ! 

For  He  hath  snatched  the  poor  man's  life  out  of  the  hand  of 
evildoers." 

The  cause  was  of  God.  Thou  didst  lure  me,  lahvah, 
and  I  let  myself  be  lured;  Thou  urgedst  me  and  wert 
victorious.  He  had  not  rashly  and  presumptuously 
taken  upon  himself  this  office  of  prophet ;  he  had  been 
called,  and  had  resisted  the  call,  until  his  scruples  and 
his  pleadings  were  overcome,  as  was  only  natural,  by  a 
Will  more  powerful  than  his  own  (chap.  i.  6).  In 
speaking  of  the  inward  persuasions  which  determined 

'  vi.  1 1  (or,  of  enduring,  Mai.  iii.  2). 

*  *  Denounce  ye,  and  we  will  denounce  him  ! ' 


420  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH, 

the  course  of  his  life,  he  uses  the  very  terms  which 
are  used  by  the  author  of  Kings  in  connexion  with 
the  spirit  that  misled  the  prophets  of  Arab  before  the 
fatal  expedition  to  Ramoth  Gilead.  And  he  said^  Thou 
shall  entice^  and  also  he  victorious  (i  Kings  xxii.  22). 
lahvah,  therefore,  has  treated  him  as  an  enemy  rather 
than  a  friend,  for  He  has  lured  him  to  his  own  destruc- 
tion. Half  in  irony,  half  in  bitter  complaint,  the 
prophet  declares  that  lahvah  has  succeeded  only  too 
well  in  His  malign  purpose :  /  am  become  a  derision 
all  the  day  long;  Every  one  mocketh  at  me. 

In  the  second  stanza,  the  thought  appears  to  be 
continued  thus :  Thou  overcamest  me ;  for  as  often  as 
I  speak,  I  am  a  prophet  of  evil,  /  cry  alarm  (^ezaq ; 
cf.  ze'aqah,  vers.  16) ;  I  proclaim  the  imminence  of 
invasion,  the  violence  and  havoc  of  a  ruthless  conqueror. 
Thou  overcamest  me  also,  in  Thy  purpose  of  making  me 
a  laughing-stock  to  my  adversaries  ;  for  lahvah! s  word 
is  become  to  me  a  reproach,  and  a  scoff  all  the  day  long 
(the  relation  between  the  two  halves  of  the  stanza 
is  that  of  coordination ;  each  gives  the  reason  of  the 
corresponding  couplet  in  the  first  stanza).  His 
continual  threats  of  a  judgment  that  was  still  de- 
layed, brought  upon  him  the  merciless  ridicule  of  his 
opponents. 

Or  the  prophet  may  mean  to  complain  that  the 
monotony  of  his  message,  his  ever-recurring  denuncia- 
tion of  prevalent  injustice,  is  made  a  reproach  against 
him.  For  as  often  as  I  speak  I  make  an  outcry  of  in- 
dignation at  foul  wrongdoing  (Gen.  iv.  10,  xviii.  21, 
xix.  13)  ;  wrong  and  robbery  do  I  proclaim  (Hab.  i.  2,  3) 
— the  oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  covetous  and 
luxurious  ruling  classes.  A  third  view  is  that  Jeremiah 
complains  of  the  frequent  attacks   upon  himself:  For 


XX.]  JEREMIAH  UNDER  PERSECUTION.  421 

as  often  as  I  speak  I  have  to  exclaim ;  Of  assault  and 
violence  do  I  cry ;  but  the  first  suggestion  appears  to 
suit  best,  as  giving  a  reason  for  the  ridicule  which  the 
prophet  finds  so  intolerable  (cf.  xvii.  1$). 

The  third  stanza  carries  this  plea  for  justice  a  step 
further.  Not  only  was  the  prophet's  overwhelming 
trouble  due  to  his  having  yielded  to  the  persuasions 
and  promises  of  lahvah  ;  not  only  has  he  been  re- 
warded with  scorn  and  the  scourge  and  the  stocks  for 
his  compliance  with  a  Divine  call.  He  has  been  in  a 
manner  forced  and  driven  into  his  intolerable  position 
by  the  coercive  power  of  lahvah,  which  left  him  no 
choice  but  to  utter  the  word  that  burnt  like  a  fire 
within  him.  Sometimes  his  fears  of  perfidy  and 
betrayal  suggested  the  thought  of  succumbing  to  the 
insuperable  obstacles  which  seemed  to  block  his  path ; 
of  giving  up  once  for  all  a  thankless  and  fruitless 
and  dangerous  enterprise  :  but  then  the  inward  flame 
burnt  so  fiercely,  that  he  could  find  no  relief  for  his 
anguish  but  by  giving  it  vent  in  words  (cf.  Ps.  xxxix. 

1-3). 

The  verse  finely  illustrates  that  vivid  sense  of  a 
Divine  constraint  which  distinguishes  the  true  prophet 
from  pretenders  to  the  office.  Jeremiah  does  not  pro- 
test the  purity  of  his  motives  ;  indirectly  and  uncon- 
sciously he  expresses  it  with  a  simplicity  and  a  strength 
which  leave  no  room  for  suspicion.  He  has  himself 
no  doubt  at  all  that  what  he  speaks  is  '*  lahvah's 
word."  The  inward  impulse  is  -overpowering  ;  he  has 
striven  in  vain  against  its  urgency;  like  Jacob  at 
Peniel,  he  has  wrestled  with  One  stronger  than  him- 
self. He  is  no  vulgar  fanatic  or  enthusiast,  in  whom 
rooted  prejudices  and  irrational  frenzies  overbalance 
the  judgment,  making  him  incapable  of  estimating  the 


422  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 

hazards  and  the  chances  of  his  enterprise ;  he  is  as 
well  aware  of  the  perils  that  beset  his  path  as  the 
coolest  and  craftiest  of  his  worldly  adversaries.  Thanks 
to  his  natural  quickness  of  perception,  his  developed 
faculty  of  reflexion,  he  is  fully  alive  to  the  probable 
consequences  of  perpetually  thwarting  the  popular  will, 
of  taking  up  a  position  of  permanent  resistance  to  the 
policy  and  the  aims  and  the  interests  of  the  ruling 
classes.  But  while  he  has  his  mortal  hopes  and  fears, 
his  human  capacity  for  anxiety  and  pain;  while  his 
heart  bleeds  at  the  sight  of  suffering,  and  aches  for 
the  woes  that  thickly  crowd  the  field  of  his  prophetic 
vision  ;  his  speech  and  his  behaviour  are  dominated, 
upon  the  whole,  by  an  altogether  higher  consciousness. 
His  emotions  may  have  their  moments  of  mastery ;  at 
times  they  may  overpower  his  fortitude,  and  lay  him 
prostrate  in  an  agony  of  lamentation  and  mourning 
and  woe ;  at  times  they  may  even  interpose  clouds  and 
darkness  between  the  prophet  and  his  vision  of  the 
Eternal ;  but  these  effects  of  mortality  do  not  last : 
they'  shake  but  cannot  loosen  his  grasp  of  spiritual 
realities ;  they  cannot  free  him  from  the  constraining 
influence  of  the  Word  of  lahvah.  That  word  pos- 
sesses, leads  him  captive,  "  triumphs  over  him,"  over 
all  the  natural  resistance  of  flesh  and  blood ;  for  he  is 
"not  as  the  many" — the  false  prophets — "who  corrupt 
the  Word  of  God;  but  as  of  sincerity,  but  as  of 
God,    in   the   sight   of  God,  he   speaks"   (2   Cor.    ii. 

14,  17). 

And  still,  unless  a  man  be  thus  impelled  by  the 
Spirit ;  unless  he  have  counted  the  cost  and  is  pre- 
pared to  risk  all  for  God  ;  unless  he  be  ready  to  face  un- 
popularity and  social  contempt  and  persecution  ;  unless 
he  knows  what  it  is  to  suffer  for  and  with  Jesus  Christ 


xx.j  JEREMIAH  UNDER  PERSECUTION.  423 

I  doubt  if  he  has  any  moral  right  to  speak  in  that  most 
holy  Name.  For  if  the  all-mastering  motive  be  absent, 
if  the  love  of  Christ  constrain  him  not,  how  can  his 
desires  and  his  doings  be  such  as  the  Unseen  Judge 
will  either  approve  or  bless  ? 

The  fourth  stanza  explains  why  the  prophet  laboured, 
though  vainly,  to  keep  silence.  It  was  because  of  the 
malicious  reports  of  his  utterances,  which  were  carefully 
circulated  by  his  watchful  antagonists.  They  beset 
him  on  every  side;  like  Pashchur,  they  were  to  him 
a  "  magor-missabib,"  an  environing  terror  (cf.  vi.  25), 
as  they  listened  to  his  harangues,  and  eagerly  invited 
each  other  to  inform  against  him  as  a  traitor  (The 
words  "  Inform  ye,  and  let  us  inform  against  him ! " 
or  *' Denounce  ye,  and  let  us  denounce  him !"  may  be 
an  ancient  gloss  upon  the  term  dibbah,  "ill  report," 
"  calumny  ; "  Gen.  xxxvii.  2  ;  Num.  xiii.  32  ;  Job  xvii.  5. 
For  the  construction,  cf.  Job  xxxi.  37.  They  spoil 
the  symmetry  of  the  line.  That  dibbah  really  means 
"  defaming,"  or  ^'  slander,"  appears  not  only  from  the 
passages  in  which  it  occurs,  but  also  from  the  Arabic 
dabub,  '^one  who  creeps  about  with  slander,"  from 
dabba,  *'  to  move  gently  or  slowly  about."  The  Heb. 
ragal,  riggel,  ''to  go  about  slandering,"  and  rakil, 
"  slander,"  are  analogous). 

And  not  only  open  enemies  thus  conspired  for  the 
prophet's  destruction.  Even  professed  friends  (for  the 
phrase,  cf.  xxxviii.  22  ;  Ps.  xli.  10)  were  treacherously 
watchful  to  catch  him  tripping  (cf  ix.  2,  xii.  6).  Those 
on  whom  he  had  a  natural  claim  for  sympathy  and 
protection,  bore  a  secret  and  determined  grudge  against 
him.  His  unpopularity  was  complete,  and  his  position 
full  of  peril.     We  have  in  the  thirty-first  and  several 


424  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JEREMIAH. 


^ 


of  the  following  psalms  outpourings  of  feeling  under 
circumstances  very  similar  to  those  of  Jeremiah  on  the 
present  occasion,  even  if  they  were  aot  actually  written 
by  him  at  the  same  crisis  in  his  career,  as  certain 
striking  coincidences  of  expression  seem  to  suggest 
(ver.  10 ;  cf.  Ps.  xxxi.  13,  xxxv.  15,  xxxviii.  17,  xli.  9; 
ver.  13  with  Ps.  xxxv.  9,  10). 

The  prophet  closes  his  psalm-like  monologue  with 
an  act  of  faith.  He  remembers  that  he  has  a  Champion 
who  is  mightier  than  a  thousand  enemies.  lahvah 
is  with  him,  not  with  them  (cf.  2  Kings  vi.  16)  ;  their 
plots,  therefore,  are  foredoomed  to  failure,  and  them- 
selves to  the  vengeance  of  a  righteous  God  (xi.  20). 
The  last  words  are  an  exultant  anticipation  of  deliver- 
ance. 

We  thus  see  that  the  whole  piece,  like  a  previous 
one  (xv.  10-21),  begins  with  cursing  and  ends  with  an 
assurance  of  blessing. 


^       V        . 


DATE  DUE 

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